Disclosure: Post sponsored by Crop Science, a division of Bayer, but all opinions are my own.
Who loves honey? I know I do. It’s a natural sweetener, a superfood, and an ingredient in some of my favorite recipes. Last week Bayer’s Feed A Bee program gave me the opportunity to learn more about honey and honeybees by taking a field trip out to Cantigny Golf.
Cantigny Golf is a golf course in Wheaton, Illinois, an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary, and a participant in the Bayer Bee Care program. Cantigny Golf helps pollinators, like bees, bats, and butterflies by planting pollinator friendly plants in the areas surrounding the golf greens. As a result, the course has the most stunning grounds I have ever seen.
Cantigny Golf also keeps several hives of bees. The hives are kept off the beaten path away from the golfers, but we got to pay them a visit. The bees were very docile and we were told that no one at the golf course has ever been stung.
Throughout the day I learned lots of facts about bees. Did you know that they can visit up for 5,000 flowers in one day?! Or that almonds and many nuts are dependent on pollinators since every blossom needs to be pollinated? Even though honeybee numbers are at a twenty year high, they are still facing a food shortage, which is the motivation behind the Bayer Bee Care Feed a Bee program.
Scott White, Cantigny’s Golf Course Superintendent, explained that the costs of planting pollinator friendly plants and beekeeping are offset both by grants and by selling products made from their bees’ wax and honey.
In 2015, Bayer launched their Feed a Bee program with the goal of planting 50 million flowers. Now they have helped to plant over 150 million wildflowers to help provide more areas for the bees to forage. Helping the bees thrive is important since about a third of the food eaten by humans is dependent on bees and pollinators.
Before we left Cantigny Golf, we were given some of their raw honey, which inspired me to make Honey, Fig, and Brie Phyllo Cups. This sweet and savory appetizer is quick and easy to prepare, and it has fall flavors that would make it a fine addition to your Thanksgiving menu.
This recipe for Honey, Fig, and Brie Phyllo Cups requires just four ingredients, a couple minutes of time to assemble, and another 15 minutes to bake.
Honey, Fig, and Brie Phyllo Cups and Helping Honey Bees
Ingredients
- Phyllo Cups find these in the freezer section of your grocery store
- Fig Jam
- Brie
- Honey
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 350 degrees. Arrange the phyllo cups on a baking sheet.
- Place about 1/4 teaspoon of fig jam in the bottom of each phyllo cup. Dice the brie into small cubes, and place one in each of the phyllo cups. Drizzle honey over the brie.
- Place in the oven to bake for 15 minutes, or until the cheese has lightly browned.
- Serve right away.
Thank you to Bayer’s Feed a Bee program and Cantigny Golf for showing me such a wonderful time and for teaching me more about honey bees! You can help pollinators by sending a tweet including #FeedABee along with the bee emoji 🐝 and Bayer will plant wildflowers on your behalf!
