Thousands of Bees and Unique Honey Flavors With Lauren Sattazahn

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're speaking with Lauren Sattazahn, a commercial apiarist.

Sattazahn and her husband John Tittle own Tittle Apiaries in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania.

The apiary has about 2,000 hives and makes a variety of honey as well as beeswax products.

Additionally, Tittle Apiaries offers pollination services for farmers.

"When we have larger crops — when you're talking hundreds of acres — you can break it down to a science of how many hives you need per acre to really pollinate what you're trying to get," Sattazahn said.

One of the apiary's biggest annual pollination jobs is taking hives to Maine to pollinate the wild blueberry fields.

And the blueberry honey made from that pollination is one of the best sellers.

"I feel like Maine is just the place for blueberry honey. It just comes out much better there," she said.

In addition to the blueberry honey, Tittle Apiaries sells spring, summer and fall honeys, all made from flower pollination in Pennsylvania.

"The bees are pollinating different things throughout each season, so that's what's going to give your variation in color and flavor," Sattazahn said.

Sattazahn said one of her favorite parts of the job is offering honey tastings while selling at markets — and the reactions that come from tasting the different varieties.

"They say 'honey is honey.' But once you get them to try the differences, they're blown away." Sattazahn said.