History and Heritage

The word ‘honey’ comes from the Germanic word ‘hunaga’ which means golden. The honey bee, one of mans oldest insect friends, gives us honey, beeswax, and most important of all, the fertilization of many of our crop bearing plants. The honey bee is a social insect, living in large colonies of 20,000 to 80,000 individuals. In 1621 the first colonies of honey bees were shipped to Virginia from Europe, and were referred to as “the white mans flies” by the Native Americans.

Honey was the only available source of sugar in countries where it was made. By the time of the Roman Empire, honey production and beekeeping were well established.