Ep. 72 - Lose a Beekeeper and you Begin to Lose our Food System. Honey is the Original Healing Agent. Honeycomb Can Change the Consumer Relationship with Honey. Entrepreneur Douglas Raggio.

On this episode we are grateful to have Douglas Raggio.  Douglas’ journey to becoming a purveyor of fine fresh honeycomb weaves together his entrepreneurial spirit, culinary expertise, and passion for sustainable food systems. After a decade in the fast-paced restaurant industry, where he managed award-winning establishments in New York and Chicago, Douglas found himself increasingly drawn to the origin stories behind exceptional ingredients.  His pivot into the world of artisanal honey began during a chance encounter with a third-generation beekeeper in the Hudson Valley. 

#eatbetterfoodtoday #longevity #health #localfarmers #artisanalhoney #honeycomb #regenerative 

 

Please visit our website https://eatbetterfoodtoday.com for this week's recipe, interviews, books, research, videos.

 

Look for information on Douglas at  https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglasraggio and http://passthehoney.com/

 

Other websites Douglas mentioned https://www.regenerativeapiculture.org

 

What’s In Season https://www.seasonalfoodguide.org/

 

Cleveland Kitchen: https://www.clevelandkitchen.com/

 

Segment Notes:

 

Breakfast  1:33

Journey into Honey 2:00

-        civil engineering to marketing 

-        Venture fund for farmers who lacked access to capital 

o        But VCs in CPG just sold to larger companies

-        Started Private Equity Fund, bought and sold an ingredients commodity business

o        Learned about honey fraud – and honeycomb can’t be faked

-        Lose a beekeeper and you lose our food system

Pass the Honey – The Company  7:37 

-        Mission – stabilize beekeeping globally

o        Create a revenue source to support honeybees, beekeepers, ecological diversity

o        3yrs with UC Davis developing outcome based regenerative standards White Paper

o        Created one million acres for research, then gifted to a 501c3

        The Regenerative AP Culture Working Group 

Honeycomb has Terroir – nuance and flavor based on origin 11:14

-        Honey comes from bees that get pollen from flowers, flowers are breathing the air

-        How do You know what’s in the HoneyComb?

o        Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Pollen, Sugar Water Testing

o        Pollen content, depending on the flower, ranges from 20% to 90%

o        Fundraising for Five Pilots to begin the certification process

Pass the Honey - Products  14:21

-        Apiculture is beekeeping, agriculture is crop tending

-        Could not find US Honeycomb in Volume in the US without pesticides

o        Turkey banned many pesticides decades ago, plus Canada, Mexico, Europe, Middle East

o        Each region’s honeycomb tastes different 

o        Like wine, grapes are different, same for honey and the pollen in a region  

-        Want to be the Next Avocado – Need Market Demand to Stabilize the Bees and Beekeeper

Population

Fraudulent Honey  18:57

-        70% of all liquid honey is fradulaent

-        Beekeepers lost 60% of their hives in 2024

o        So where is all of this honey coming from to meet demand?

-        If you see multiple sources on one container, its been heated and lost all nutritional value

Pass the Honey - Customers  21:23

-        Wherever you can use a berry you can use a honeycomb

-        Currently in about ten supermarkets and growing

-        Restaurateurs – for cocktails, on steak, breakfast pancakes, waffles, yogurt

-        Pizza Shops, Charcuterie stores, Gyms

Health Benefits

-        Honey is the original healing agent

-        Antibacterial, Anti-fungal, Antimicrobial

-        Sleep aid

-        Type I diabetics – the wax: clinical nutritionists see metabolic lift without the crash (consult your doctor)

Bees and Their Decline  26:41

-        Why? Pesticides, antibiotics, trucking bees to pollinate mono-crops, theft

-        Starting a Hive – join a beekeeping club

Book for Food Entrepreneurs  - So you Wanna Start a Food or Beverage Business  29:37

-        The common pitfalls that Founders run into

-        Stories of how founders worked through problems

-        Know Your End-Game and Build backwards 

-        Typically need $250K to $2M to start

-        Farming: moving to organic – need demand to balance the investment needed

o        Costco has worked with farmers transitioning to organic 

o        Chefs can help drive demand 

Honeycomb: look where Avocado’s have come in 20yrs, Pistachios  35:36

o        Branded Commodities: It takes consumer education

o        Create a honeycomb brand, charge enough to keep beekeepers producing

o        Sourcing from US regions – hard to do – but want to 

        Have to look at wind patterns, forage, water, access to collect honeycombs, fires, floods

        Talking to people in the south, indigenous areas, 

Bees and Food  39:36

-        Pollinate about a third of our global food system

-        Beekeeper’s income has gone down because of the fraudulent honey bringing prices down

o        Drives them to doing pollination services

-        Thank a beekeeper for pollinating your berries and vegetables 

-        Chefs get the importance of honeycomb, bees, beekeepers 

The Biggest Challenge  43:50

-        Demand outpacing supply of good quality honeycomb: it’s a new commodity class

Cooking at Home  45:56

-        Eating healthy, affordably, can be done, but it takes planning – his wife did a study

-        Need a way to show people, easily, how to shop healthy, affordably

-        Shop at International Markets

The Recipe: Coconut Cult, Fresh Berries, Granola, Honeycomb  50:22 

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