Bee Free Honee is the brain-child of Katie Sanchez. Katie's love of cooking started when she was young. Growing up in Mound, MN, her family had an apple orchard in their front yard and her father (ironically) was a bee keeper. For her tenth birthday gift, she asked to be able to cook dinner for her family, on the stove and by herself. Cooking has been her passion for as long as she can remember.
Pastries were her preference, but at the time pastry schools were far less common and much more expensive. So she decided to go to cooking school in Louisiana. She worked on a line while looking to get her foot in the door of a pastry department. That opportunity came at D'Amico Cucina, in Minneapolis. There she had the privilege of working as the assistant to Pastry Chef Leah Henderson and under Chef Jay Sparks. After three years, she left to go to work at an all natural bakehouse in St. Paul. There she worked with vegan products and learned about the all natural foods world. On more than one occasion she wished she could use honey in some of the vegan items. The vegan sweeteners were so strong they would often mask subtle flavors such as vanilla or hints of lemon.
One day in 1999, while trying to make a less sweet version of apple jelly and being a novice with jelly, Katie accidentally created something that was definitely not jelly. Not wanting to be wasteful, she 'canned' it only to discover in the morning, that what she had was honee!
Years later when she heard about the decline of the bee population, she asked herself two questions, could she reproduce her honee and was there a market for it? She went back to the kitchen and after much trial and error she was able to say that she had a solid recipe. Four years later, when she entered the market she did so with a website, a distributor, and three stores that carried her product. We are excited to see what is to come and we are thrilled that you are along for the ride.
