Stephen Jodie Goldsworthy

BEECHWORTH HONEY

Jodie & Stephen Goldsworthy

Sixteen years ago, Jodie and Steven Goldsworthy - a young couple aged 22 and 25 respectively - took the plunge into the honey trade with what Jodie describes as 'absolutely nothing'. Despite Jodie coming from four generations of bee farmers, she had no aspirations to ply the family trade; that is until Steven caught the sweet bug.

'A lot of people assume that there's a big company behind us because we're in the supermarkets now,' says Jodie, who is as hands-on with the business today as she was at their inception. She speaks ardently about her love of honey - so much so that she confidently tells us they prioritise product quality much higher than profit.

'We don't blend for a consistent flavour,' explains Jodie of the processes behind their classic range. 'We opened the Beechworth Honey Experience to show people the care we take in bringing them their honey. Coming from a family of beekeepers, we're passionate about Australian honey and we wanted to share that.'

The Goldsworthys emerged as the Aussie 'honey specialists' as a result of their commitment during times of drought to source only Australian-produced honey to fill their markets. They felt their story was an important one to share, so they established The Beechworth Honey Experience in Beechworth, which enables visitors to discover the many possibilities of honey - including a selection of beauty products - taste testing and even free honey tours that run seven days a week.

Jodie describes this visitor centre as 'an exciting thing for us'. 'There are over 780 different species of eucalypt so the varieties of honey are endless,' she remarks. 'Not many people realise but two thirds of produce - grains, fruit and vegies and so on - are dependent on honey bees for pollination.'

Looks like we owe much more to these little critters than we may initially have realised.

Open seven days, 9am-5.30pm (closed Christmas Day)

Corner Ford & Church Streets, Beechworth, Victoria

Tel. 03 5728 1432