Red Honey In Red Hook

Beekeepers in Red Hook, Brooklyn say their hives are producing Red Dye #40-laden honey because their bees have been dive-bombing a nearby maraschino cherry factory.

Mr. Selig, who owns the restaurant chain Rice and raises the bees as a hobby, was disappointed that an entire season that should have been devoted to honey yielded instead a red concoction that tasted metallic and then overly sweet. He and Ms. Mayo also fear that the bees’ feasting on the stuff could have unforeseeable health effects on the hives. But Mr. Selig said there was something extraordinary, too, about those corn-syrup-happy bees that came flying back this summer. “When the sun is a bit down, they glow red in the evenings,” he said. “They were slightly fluorescent. And it was beautiful.”

The real point of this post, of course, is "Hello, hot beekeeper!"