Liquid Gold at the Ruin Beach Cafe

There are lots of bee colonies living on the island and each hive contributes to different culinary delights. With the rum barrel honey going to SC Dogs for their honey spiced rum, and the Tresco Abbey Garden hives honey going into jars and honeycomb to be used at the eateries and sold at the stores and the garden cafe, each hive plays its part in the island food landscape. And it is no different for the bees over at Old Grimsby.

Situated on the Eastern side of the island, "the Ruin bees are really special," says island beekeeper Jilly. "They sit behind the Ruin and the staff help me look after them when they've got time. We've had their honey analysed and it's made up of heather and brambles and all the flowers in the sea gardens; it tastes really beautiful with a very light flavour. What's particularly special about these bees though, is the fact they have come over from St Martin's." 

"At first we suspected that there was a link but they've now been DNA tested and we have proven that the bees in this hive are from St Martin's. What's really nice is that two years ago the bait hive was set up behind the ruin for a scientific experiment to prove that the bees were flying across water in swarms and subsequently mating with each other. We kayaked to Tean with Stephen Flemming from Beecraft magazine - one of the top drone experts in the world - and put up his lure with the pheromones of a queen. He managed to find a really amazing drone congregation site where the bees were mating. Prior to this, we asked each island to place coloured dots on their drones (male bees) in order for us to keep track of their movements and, as such, there were lots of bees with blue St Martin's dots on Tean that day thanks to the help of St Martin's beekeeper Ben Gillett. Not only did we see St Martin's bees, but we also identified Ben's bees in our bait hive behind the ruin and - vice versa - Ben has found our bees in his hives too! So it is lovely that these bees have settled at the ruin hive permanently and it's been a very exciting process."

"They're really lovely bees and when Head Chef Jess has time she comes beekeeping with me and therefore really knows where the honey she is using comes from. It's liquid gold and is beautiful in the roasted apricot, crumble and yoghurt pudding on the menu this summer."