Surrey’s own BCB Honey Farm is generating a bit of buzz (pun intended) recently due to the international recognition of the quality of their ‘Oh Honey’ honey. The farm’s founder, Iman Tabari, was presented a ‘quality gold award’ at the London International Honey Competition, known as the London Honey Awards. The Gold Award is the competition’s second-highest achievement, after platinum, and as the competition attracts competitors from all around the world, to be recognized at this level is definitely a “sweet” success. In fact, BCB Honey Farm was the ONLY Canadian honey producer recognized at the Gold level!
The honey was evaluated based on a “general sense of enjoyment (which weighs the most in the final rating) as well as other criteria, such as appearance, odour, texture, flavour and mouth–feel,” according to the London awards website.
As the population of bees in North America are at a staggering decline, Mr. Tabari has taken it upon himself to revive British Columbia’s dwindling bee population. In 2003, Tabari founded BCB Natural Products and Services Ltd. and soon realized how the pollination of BC’s fruit depended mostly on imported bees from across the country. Since then, he has established and currently runs thousands of hives all over BC’s Lower Mainland and the Peace River region. The bees from BCB Honey Farm now pollinate a variety of local crops such as blueberries, cranberries, and raspberries all across the province. Tabari and the BCB Honey Farm are working hard to eliminate BC crops reliance on imported bees. BCB Honey Farm is one of Tabari’s most recent ventures, where he sells his honey for local customers and tourists to enjoy!
If you’re interested in trying a bit of this award-winning honey yourself, you can visit BCB Farm at 4121 King George Blvd in Surrey, BC any day from 9:30a.m.–6:30pm!