Brooklyn Beekeepers Recommend Local Honey for Allergies

Jon, Brandon, and Eddie; Beekeepers
Gothamist, 8/20/2009

…Jon Feldman (general manager at Frankies Spuntino), Brandon Hoy and Eddie Diaz (co-owner and manager of Roberta’s, respectively) have been keeping bees on their roofs in Williamsburg and Carroll Gardens in an attempt to boost their population and beautify the city’s flowerboxes. There’s just one problem: it’s illegal.

…We're using a lot of the products that come out of here: the wax, the honey, and the propolis, which is great for the immune system. And it's fun. It's a lot of fun. We're having a really good time doing this.

So is that myth true that local honey has immune boosters?

B: I mean, if you think of allergies, absolutely. When I came to New York I had awful allergies, but it was just a reaction to things my body wasn't used to.

E: And the way we treat these things usually is with antihistamines, which just suppress the reactions instead of acclimating you to the thing that's causing it.

J: So honey and pollen are the most concentrated source of what you could potentially be reacting to, so if you take a spoonful of honey a day, your body is acclimating to what's most concentrated in and around this area. So your body becomes used to it.

B: Since we started on the local honey stuff, I haven't had allergies in two years…