Q&A with Local Beekeeper Sierra Malnove
To close out September and National Honey Month, we chatted with resident beekeeper Sierra Malnove to spotlight the PGA National Resort’s unique beekeeper experience and its admirable honey bee sustainability initiatives.
The PGA National Resort is the only hotel in Palm Beach County that keeps bees and harvests honey as part of its sustainability initiatives. Malnove also hosts a hands-on, hour-long beekeeping experience for guests and members. She started keeping bees for Broken Sound Club 10 years ago, and now, through her company Sierra’s Bees, she manages hives for more than 30 country clubs in the area. She also co-founded Palm Beach Creamed Honey in 2020. pgaresort.com, sierrasbees.com, creamedhoney.com
Why do you think the hotel wanted to keep bees?
Malnove: It’s a beautiful property that makes you feel like you’re in paradise. That visual display they’re giving their resort guests and members is a buffet for pollinators. So, keeping bees brings the experience full circle. Now, it’s not only beauty we can see, but we also have something we can taste.
How does the resort use the honey?
Malnove: Restaurants and bars take full advantage of it by showcasing it in signature cocktails and special dishes like Honeybelle’s hot honey for its pizza and fried chicken and The Butcher’s Club honey butter.
How does keeping bees help the ecosystem on a larger scale?
Malnove: We work with gentle Italian honeybees, so when they mate with local bees, that injection of genetics helps make the wild colonies nicer and less aggressive.
Why aren’t more hotels keeping bees?
It’s not very expensive or time-consuming. I manage the program, but it is a commitment. They must be invested in it before I come in with the program. Bees will sting and defend the colony if needed, so great care must be taken to keep bees where there are people. My top priority as a beekeeper is to give everyone a good experience—whether that’s up close, like the beekeeping experience, or just through the honey for guests and members.
What is a unique medicinal property?
Malnove: Microdosing with a teaspoon of local honey with pollen daily can help if you have allergies. The best way to find hyper-local honey is to find a local beekeeper through a beekeeper association. I was the vice president of the Palm Beach County Beekeepers Association for a year. Most honey in a supermarket will be mixed with imported honey to cut down on cost.
Filtered or unfiltered?
Malnove: Our creamed honey is Kosher certified, so it’s filtered to remove insects but not ultra-filtered to remove any pollen. We want to keep the maximum amount of pollen in the honey.
