SAP Takes Guests on a Sweet Hive-to-Honey Journey
- by Guest
The Bon Appétit team at SAP in Palo Alto, CA, has one of the sweetest on-campus gardens around, thanks to a trio of honey hives.
Instructors showed guests how to open and investigate the hives
Every year, the culinary team partners with the Planet Bee Foundation to teach guests beekeeping fundamentals and how to harvest honey. To kick off the “hive-to-honey” experience, participants geared up in beekeeping suits and headed to the campus garden.
The first step is to smoke the hive, which helps protect beekeepers from stings, and also keeps the bees safe during the process. The honey-filled hive trays are then extracted and inspected, at which point any remaining worker bees are brushed off and returned to the hive. The trays are then transported to the café for harvesting.
Participants had the opportunity to taste the different kinds of honey. To some guests’ surprise, each hive produced distinctly different flavors in their honey, thanks to the seasonal flora that the bees prefer. Once the honey was drained from the combs, it was collected in honey bear containers for participants to take home, along with a related Food for Your Well-Being recipe card. Guests loved what has become a time-honored tradition at SAP.
Submitted by Jasmine Chan, Regional Nutrition and Wellness Manager