Producers Series: Gentle Breeze Honey

information gathered by Alaina Knief, Graze Server; complied by Samantha Egelhoff, PR/Outreach

The Woller Family
 courtesy of the Gentle Breeze website

Gentle Breeze Honey, in Mount Horeb, began in 1965 when Eugene and Donna Woller purchased seven hives from a retiring beekeeper. Today they have over 600 hives in operation, divided between Fitchburg, Mount Horeb and Pardeeville, kept in working order thanks to their three children and their families, friends, neighbors, and four additional full-time employees.

Honey is created when bees transform collected flower nectar through regurgitation and store it inside wax honeycombs in their hive. Since this nectar is the bees' primary food source, beekeepers encourage honey overproduction so the excess can be harvested for human use without depriving the bees of their nutrition. In beekeeper (manmade) hives, large honeycomb cells, called "supers," are created in the center, where bees normally store their extra supply of honey. These cells are easily removable and allow for collection without damaging the rest of the honeycomb cells. While honey is mostly carbs and water, small amounts of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants are also present. Darker honeys generally have a higher concentration of antioxidants than lighter honeys.

At Gentle Breeze Honey, Eugene harvests the honey only when 3/4 of the middle "super" honeycomb cell is filled and sealed by the bees, to prevent harvesting "green honey." Ideally honey is collected when the moisture content has reached 17-18%; "green honey" has not reached this moisture level yet. When the honey is ready to be collected, Eugene uses smoke and bee escapes to move the bees away from the "super" and harvest the honey safely, so no humans or bees are harmed. Gentle Breeze never use chemicals to remove their bees from the honey.

honeybees
courtesy of the Gentle Breeze website

The honey is then taken to the "honey house," where the "super" cells are exposed to 80 degrees temperatures in the "hot room," allowing remaining bees to escape and slowly warming the honey in preparation for extraction. A machine is then used to remove the wax cappings the bees put on the honeycomb cells, which are then placed in a centrifugal extractor to spin the honey out slowly and drain it into a tank. The drained honey is pumped out from the bottom and strained through nylon cloths to catch remaining wax particles from the honeycomb cells. This strained honey now goes through the time-consuming settling-out period. This helps maintain the delicate flavor and the high-quality standards set by Gentle Breeze. Because their honey-producing process does not involve chemicals, overheating or force-filtering of the honey, Gentle Breeze's products are all "raw honeys," meaning they warm and strain their honey only. Because of this, there may be tiny particles of the bees' wax or pollen found in it, creating their unique flavor and nutrition value.

Eugene's bees primarily use white clover and alfalfa, grown on Wisconsin family-owned dairy farms, as their primary nectar source. Gentle Breeze does not blend their honey with ones from other states or countries. Their honey is 100% raw Wisconsin honey, and we are proud to offer their products for you!

Find Gentle Breeze Honey at the Dane County Farmers' Market, or at many local natural food outlets, grocery stores or gift shops. Just look for the blue & yellow label!
Or stop by their farm in Mount Horeb to buy directly from them. They'd be happy to show you their beehives!

See their website here.