Enhance Honey Sales through Self-Education

The more you know and can share with your customer, the more honey you will sell and the more honey will be sold. This session aims to teach you a bit about promoting honey, its use in a variety of applications, and that the bees and their magical handiwork is what great labeling is all about.

We will discuss what MUST be on a honey label and what we wish we could put on that label, but can’t! We will talk about what honey is in the jar and what you should call it. And finally, we will discuss how to promote your honey encouraging consumers to use it in a multitude of ways from cooking to healing.

Honey Tasting, and The UC Davis Honey Aroma & Flavor Wheel

There is more to honey that what meets the eye. Learn how to describe your honey tasting experience using the Honey Aroma and Flavor Wheel which gives a huge lexicon to the tastes and aromas we find when tasting honey.

Amina Harris is the owner of Z Specialty Food, LLC—also known as The HIVE—with her son and daughter. A veritable trailblazer in the field, along with her husband, Ishai Zeldner (z’’l), their company Moon Shine Trading was one of the first to pack and promote US varietal honeys winning acclaim and awards from the Specialty Food Association and the National Honey Board.

Amina is also the founding director of the Honey and Pollination Center at the Robert Mondavi Institute of Wine and Food Science, UC Davis. Under her direction, the Center has developed courses in the art of making mead and sensory programs concerning honey and honey exploration, working with staff and faculty at the university. During her tenure, the Center produced the internationally known UC Davis Honey Aroma and Flavor Wheel and helped found the California Honey Festival, held annually in Woodland, California.

Amina has presented at beekeeping programs throughout the US and Canada, introducing participants to the world of pure, unadulterated varietal honeys. A graduate of the University of Michigan, she holds a MSEd in special education from Buffalo State College.