When the Beekeeper is Truly an Artist |
Founder Marina Marchese and the rest of the folks at Red Bee are passionate about the culinary delights of honey. Their philosophy is that every bottle of their artisanal honey is a gourmet food and can be tasted and evaluated similar to wine, each one having a unique flavor profile determined by the kind of flowers visited by the bees.
The essence of a honey is dictated by the terroir, the unique combination of geographic location, climate, soil and temperature that gives each honey its complex composition and individual personality. As in winemaking, terroir dramatically affects the flavor profiles of the honeys produced.
Red Bee is a boutique honeybee farm located in the historical Bradley Tool section of Weston, Connecticut. The company’s charming red cottages were once the home of New York City ballerina Gelsey Kirkland, who partnered Mikhail Baryshnikov. There they are inspired to create the purest artisanal honeys and sustainable products. Using old world techniques, products are handmade in small batches using only plant-based ingredients to insure the finest quality. They never use pesticides, alcohol, paraffin waxes, petroleum or preservatives.
Red Bee’s organic gardens produce culinary and medicinal herbs, vegetables and flowers for cutting. They make their organic, free range chicken eggs available locally. Red Bee Honeybee products have been found at the New Canaan Farmers Market each summer for the last 6 years.
Marina Marchese is a second generation Italian sharing her love of crafting artisanal products. After graduating from the School of Visual Arts, Marina traveled to Europe and Asia as an illustrator and product designer. Her unique sense of style and love of color was defined in designs that have graced the cover of WWD and greeting cards sold worldwide by UNICEF including children's products, books and magazines. Her own Red Bee® cards were recognized by The National Honey Board after appearing in Victoria Magazine and the cover of American Bee Journal.
Today, Marina’s love of honeybees and painting has led her to the ancient technique of painting with beeswax, a technique known as encaustic painting made popular by the ancient Etruscans. Her unique and lovely artwork will be on display at the Bartlett Arboretum & Gardens in Stamford, Connecticut through October 26th of 2008. Call Bartlett Arboretum at 203-322-6971 for directions and viewing hours.
Marina studied Honey Judging at the University of Georgia's Beekeeping Institute, is Charles Mraz Apitherapy Certified and serves on the Board of the Back Yard Beekeepers. Marina has just completed her first book about Red Bee ® to be released in 2008.
If you’d like to sample some of Marina’s superb artisanal honeys or send some as a very special gift, click on any of the following:
Clover & Creamed Honey Gift Box
