Portland’s ‘Bee Local’ Honey Producers Take Pride In Uniqueness

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Robby Davis, GolocalPDX Contributor

Portland based honey producer Bee Local has been achieving plenty of success over the past few years since it was founded in 2011. In 2013 they won Edible Portland’s Local Food Hero Award, as well as Willamette Week’s Best Local Honey Award.

Several award-winning chefs have also been known to enjoy using Bee Local’s honey because of the distinctive flavor it brings to their food.

Uniquely, several of the hives that Bee Local uses can be found scattered throughout the city —even on the rooftops of four hotels. The founder, Damian Magista, believes that honey will ultimately taste like what bees eat. Due to this belief he decided to place hives in various locations throughout Portland that contained different flowering plants. Because these plants are all of different species Magista believes that the honeys will all have a unique taste.

Bee Local’s honey can be found in stores throughout the United States, as well as their online store.

Related Slideshow: 10 Things You May Not Know About Truffles

The annual Oregon Truffle Festival is set to kick off in January in Portland and Eugene. But before attending the festival, here are 10 things you may not know about truffles. (All photos were provided by the Oregon Truffle Festival).

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Truffles Priced 1,000 +

Prices in the U.S. for the French black truffle and Italian white truffle have reached up to $1,200 per pound.

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Not All Are That Good

There are at least 1,000 truffle species in North America. All are thought to be edible, but only a few have real culinary value.

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Best in the West

Oregon has the four most famous “culinary” truffle species in North America.

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Where Else Are They?

There are currently three other “culinary” truffle species found elsewhere in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

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European Truffles Here

There are at least 20 farms in North America that are beginning to produce European truffles.

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Growing in the Northwest

In the Pacific Northwest, farms are producing Perigord, Burgundy, and bianchetto truffles in orchards of inoculated trees.

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Success in the West

Seven orchards of inoculated truffle trees in the Pacific Northwest have successfully produced European truffles.

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Wine Country Truffles

Yamhill Valley wine country has one of the largest concentrations of productive truffle patches in Oregon.

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Oregon Soil

The Oregon Truffle Festival will be holding North America’s first truffle dog championship, named “The Joriad.” The event is named after Oregon’s state soil, Jory soil, which is prime for truffle growing.

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Oregon Leads the Way

In early 2013, the famous black truffle of Southern Europe, aka the Perigord truffle, was harvested for the first time in Oregon in an orchard of hazelnut trees.