All Things 'Yummy Honey'

This week, Lottie speaks to Coosh regular and local beekeeper Erika Jones to learn about her 'Yummy Honey', from hosting her first hive to producing the delicious honey that has become a firm favourite on our shelves.

As I write this blog, I am joyfully sipping on my morning coffee that has been sweetened with a generous dollop of 'Yummy Honey'. We have some wonderful regulars at Coosh, but one of our most legendary customers has to be Erika Jones. She is not just our greatest cheese and marmite roll enthusiast… no, no…. Erika is the mastermind behind Yummy Honey, the jars of golden goodness that are harvested from the beehives in her garden on Bennett Road. I have developed something of a low-level addiction to her honey, so you can imagine my excitement when I had the chance to speak to her last week…

The tale behind Yummy Honey began with a blossoming neighbourhood friendship. A few years ago, Erika saw a post in the Mapperley Facebook group from Damyan, a local beekeeper sharing advice with the community on how to manage the swarming season. Damyan needed more space for his growing number of hives and when people began to volunteer their gardens, Erika jumped in first (a beehive bagsy if you will) by posting a friendly note through his letterbox. With her garden already attracting lots of pollinators, she began hosting Damyan’s hive and learned from him about what looking after bees entails. With the help of her new bee mentor, Erika soon got hooked and started her own hive too. When Damyan moved house he passed the torch to Erika by entrusting her with his beehive; a generous gesture that exemplifies the kind of community spirit that makes our neck of the woods so special.  

Erika currently keeps three hives of European honeybees in her garden (two strong colonies and one smaller one) that have a complex and ever-growing genetic makeup  due to the unpredictable mating choices of the queen. Drawing on additional knowledge gained  from a beekeeping course last year, Erika explained that while we often assume the queen bee is in charge, it's actually the female workers who keep society afloat. When a worker bee first emerges, she spends around three weeks inside the hive methodically carrying out a series of jobs: some are tasked with feeding the larvae, while others take on housekeeping duties. There are even colony members that effectively become undertakers, removing deceased bees to keep the colony healthy and thriving. Erika’s fascination with these pollinating powerhouses is infectious; despite the occasional soap-opera drama, honeybees are remarkably adept at maintaining a strong society, sharing labour through a fair distribution of responsibility.

Erika harvests the honey through a careful process of uncapping, extracting, sieving and jarring. Her product is 100% raw and unpasteurised, with no added sugar unlike many of the shop bought alternatives that derive from a suspiciously vague 'blend of EU and non-EU sources'. Commercial honey can be produced cheaply through large-scale intensive methods, such as feeding the bees sugar rather than encouraging them to forage naturally; the result is a product that bears little resemblance to local honey like Erika’s, which retains a far wider range of natural enzymes and flavour compounds. 

Erika highlighted how maintaining hives is a delicate process that often requires considered decision-making and timely intervention. This makes it essential for beekeepers to have support – whether that is from experienced bee mentors (shout out again to Damyan) or organisations such as the Nottinghamshire Beekeepers Association. But the end result is so worth it. City honey typically offers a more complex flavour profile than honey from monocultural environments, meaning the addictive taste of Yummy Honey evolves with each season. The gardens of Mapperley have a rich array of plant life for Erika's bees to forage on – they are spoilt for choice! For example, our streets are home to all three UK species of Lime Tree, which contribute to the fresh floral notes and delicate citrus undertones of her product. It is like eating a pot of sunshine.

Next time you are in Coosh, I urge you to pick up a jar of Yummy Honey. It is a wonderful feeling to know that you are not only championing our hardworking local busy bee friends, but also supporting the passions of a truly brilliant member of our community. We can't thank Erika enough for inviting us to stock her honey. It has significantly elevated my breakfast and it has brought sunlight to our shelves, no matter the weather… 

So join me in becoming a Yummy Honey convert, I promise you will never look back.

Lottie Clark 09/06/26