Top chef's beehive creating buzz about the city

Senior Feature Writer & Food Writer

Friday 25 May 2012

IT gained widespread infamy in the classic 1930s novel No Mean City as Scotland's toughest slum, populated by vicious razor gangs.

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Cate Devine

Now, after years of regeneration and investment, Glasgow's Gorbals district truly has a buzz about it ... as it was unveiled as the new home of a colony of honeybees.

Michelin-starred chef Martin Wishart became the first chef in Europe to sponsor a community hive, when 20,000 Carniolan bees, the very first in a ground-breaking project, were introduced to his new hive yesterday.

The bees are native to Slovenia and celebrated for their docile nature and tolerance to climates such as Scotland's. They are expected to produce around 50kg of the first-ever Gorbals Honey by September, some of which will be used by Graeme Cheever, head chef at Wishart's Michelin-starred Loch Lomond fine dining restaurant at Cameron House Hotel. Wishart says his real motivation for embracing the beehive is to have it used for educational purposes. He said: "I want my hive to help local disadvantaged children learn about the importance of bees to the environment. "If we didn't have bees pollinating, we wouldn't have any flowers or fruit or vegetables, so without bees human beings would die off too. Bees are an accurate indicator of how we're treating the planet." Herald columnist Wishart was invited by beekeeping company Johnny's Garden of Glasgow to become its first corporate sponsor. He donated £1000 for his hive, which is made entirely of reclaimed materials such as food palettes, as well as mosquito nets and roof slates. Compared to commercial honey production, the natural method means lower volumes but Johnny's Garden owner Norton Miller says that's not the main concern. He said: "We are interested in the wellbeing of the bees themselves rather than the honey they make. We build hives that are modified from the usual square shape to rectangular, because we believe this is a more natural habitat for the bees." Mr Miller added: "Smoking bees makes them think there's a fire so they rush inside to eat lots of honey to store to protect the colony. But we don't like to panic them, so we spray on sugar water, which calms them without alarming them. "Having Martin Wishart as our first corporate sponsor is just amazing and he has really helped put Glasgow on the map in terms of ecological programmes." It's hoped local children with hayfever and asthma will experience the health benefits of eating honey produced on their doorstep. Glasgow City Council, which appointed Johnny's Garden to deliver and maintain the beehives and to train volunteers from the local community, has allocated £800 to the Gorbals bee project. It has already identified another three pilot beehive sites at Shettleston, Easterhouse and the High Street.

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Top chef's beehive creating buzz about the city

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