On the edge of the Badlands east of Bend, surrounded by sage, juniper, and rabbitbrush, sits a small farm. Tucked away behind bales of straw is a collection of white bee hives, all branded, “Bend Bee Company.”

The Bend Bee Company was started by two Central Oregon natives who gathered a few bees, just so they could have some good honey to put in their tea. It turns out their honey was so tasty, that soon friends, neighbors, and even people they didn’t know wanted to get jars of the stuff.

But what makes the honey from Bend Bee Company so special? How is it different from any other honey out there. For that matter, what makes any food produced in a particular place different from the same food produced somewhere else?

We all know that pinot noir from California tastes different than pinot noir from Oregon. Maybe you’ve noticed that cheese from your favorite cheese maker tastes different than the same type of cheese made by another producer. But why? What’s the difference?

The answer is terroir (Pronounced ter’wär. The first syllable sounds just like the word tear – as in to tear something up. The second syllable gets the emphasis, and rhymes with car).

Terroir is one of those mysterious terms the wine industry has been tossing around for years, but has recently grown to encompass artisan foods, as well.

Loosely translated, terroir means a taste of place or a sense of place. The idea is that the soil, climate, environment, and even the folks who grow and process any food have an impact on how that food tastes. In other words, food with terroir is food that knows where it’s from, and isn’t afraid to show it. It’s food with attitude!

When it comes to food with terroir, honey is near the top of the list. Honey can taste different from one season to the next, or even one farm to the next, depending on what plants the bees are pollinating, and how the honey is harvested and processed.

Canyon Davis, one of the Bend Bee Company proprietors, explained that nectars are different from alfalfa, to clover, to sage brush, to rabbitbrush.

“So as the bees visit those different types of plants, it’s kind of like a chef going into a kitchen, collecting a different variety of nectars … which makes a unique flavor of honey to your local area,” she said

Back over on their small farm on the edge of the Badlands, the bees that make the honey really have a thing for pollinating the rabbitbrush that grows all over the region.

Rabbitbrush flowers are a vibrant yellow, and give off a sweet aromatic scent, with hints of resin, pine, and citrus. Rabbitbrush is also called chamisa, or officially Ericameria nauseosa — which hints to the fact that many people find the smell of rabbitbrush far from appealing!

Fortunately, the happy bees making the honey at Bend Bee Company know just what to do to leave the less-than-appealing bits behind, and to bring out the best flavors from the rabbitbrush. And the team who puts the tasty honey in the jars works to process it as minimally as possible, so all those delicious flavors that define rabbitbrush honey from the high desert of Central Oregon can make it home and into your cup of tea.