On the Farm: Julia and Kon Paseschnikoff use honey harvested from their 175 hives located across the southern part of the province
WINNIPEG — The ancient Egyptians, Romans and Vikings all hoisted cups of mead, a fermented alcoholic beverage made from honey.
Now Julia and Kon Paseschnikoff are introducing mead to the Manitoba market through their bottled honey wines and cans of craft mead.
“All cultures had some form of mead,” said Julia, adding that it’s still a commonly consumed beverage in other countries but relatively rare in Canada.
The main ingredients are honey, water and yeast with fruits and spices used for flavour. Mead’s alcohol content can be as high as 18 percent.
The Paseschnikoffs run Bee Boyzz Honey & Meadery from their Oak Bluff, Man., home using honey harvested from their 175 hives located across southern Manitoba.
Kon’s father started the apiary and a market garden after immigrating to Canada from Venezuela in the 1960s. He convinced Kon Jr. to continue beekeeping and the family business also involves the Paseschnikoffs’ children Katarina, Daniel and Gregori.
“They help out when we need them,” Julia said before a Saturday in September when Bee Boyzz booths were part of three Manitoba farmers markets.
She said attending farmers and craft markets is necessary for the business because it allows the family to educate shoppers on mead and to display their products.
“We have to explain what the fermentation process is like,” Julia said.
The Paseschnikoffs built a store on their property last year in hopes of hosting mead tastings and become a tourist destination. COVID restrictions forced them to delay those plans, but the public can now visit the store four days a week.
As well as bottled and canned mead, 15 flavoured honeys, liquid and creamed honey are available at their store. The honeys, which include many fruit flavours along with more unusual tastes such as coconut and turmeric, are also sold in major grocery stores in Manitoba and across Canada.
Julia said traditional creamed and liquid honeys are still their best sellers.
The Paseschnikoffs realized a few years ago that they needed to diversify the Bee Boyzz honey business. After researching mead and seeking advice from mead makers in Canada and the U.S., Julia and Kon travelled to California to complete a four-day course on mead-making.
“Really the whole course was learning to taste the mead,” Julia said.
The Americans were impressed with the pale creamy colour of the Paseschnikoffs’ honey, which results from their bees primarily gathering nectar from canola and alfalfa blossoms.
Over the past two years, the Paseschnikoffs have worked with a mead maker to develop a variety of bottled mead wines and canned craft meads. Julia said they want to feature locally grown fruits as much as possible and have produced wines made with gooseberries, tart cherries and chokecherries.
Other wines gain flavour from spices and being aged in barrels. The craft meads include saskatoon and strawberry flavours, as well as a mojito flavour that Julia said was popular this summer.
Julia credits Kon with constantly exploring new product ideas.
“You’ve got to keep moving and you’ve got to keep growing. The sky’s the limit. We keep working like the bees.”
