Liquid Gold
The Art and Heart of Beekeeper Sheryl Hazzard-Groff & Pineapple House Creations
By Marian Pontz
Sheryl Hazzard-Groff is the only beekeeper at Lancaster Central Market. When you buy her honey at her stand – Pineapple House Creations – you’re purchasing a product that she has harvested directly from her hives. You’re spending $14 on one pound of her raw, unpasteurized honey in a lovely, reusable Muth jar – but you’re also supporting Hazzard-Groff’s loving, tender care and knowledge of her bees (“my ladies,” as she calls them).
The honey from Pineapple House Creations has become a Lancaster County institution, even though she has only been harvesting since 2019. It is sought after for wedding favors and gifts, business giveaways, and as end-of-year teacher and volunteer gifts. In fact, Hazzard-Groff was in the process of bottling more than two hundred jars for an upcoming wedding as we spoke.
Hazzard-Groff harvests her honey just once per year, at the end of June, after ensuring that “her ladies” have plenty of water and leaving them happy and fat.
“They produce beautiful honey – even those cantankerous ones who attacked me last year,” she says. “I just couldn't make them happy, but their honey is delicious.”
The honey changes color based on what the bees are eating, Hazzard-Groff explains, from local wildflowers to the hives that she keeps in the woods, where the honey produced is richer in color.
Even with the knowledge she could get stung, Hazzard-Groff says that beekeeping is a very calming and zen-like process for her. She makes daily checks on her hives, which are dispersed throughout Lancaster County (often near farms, whose farmers appreciate the essential pollinators). She has developed a reputation for adopting hives for folks who thought they wanted to become beekeepers, but who found the process too dangerous or difficult to continue long-term. Ultimately, it is significantly more work than most people realize, especially if you care for the bees like Hazzard-Groff does.
“Every beekeeper has their own process,” Hazzard-Groff explains. “Go to a bee society and you will find 11 different answers from ten different beekeepers.”
The learning curve is steep, but she got to watch and learn from a cousin who is now in his 80s, who has been a beekeeper for decades. She also recalls family members enjoying a winter holiday favorite in years past – whiskey-soaked beeswax for cocktails. (These days, Hazzard-Groff uses her wax to make soaps and creams.)
Honey is one of the most nutritionally-dense foods we can eat. It’s anti-inflammatory and full of antioxidants. Honey supports the immune system and gut health. It can even be used as an antiseptic on small cuts and scrapes. From Harvard Medical School to the Mayo Clinic, honey and its many benefits have been researched and evaluated extensively.
Look for raw, unpasteurized honey, like the kind that Hazzard-Groff sells at her stand at Lancaster Central Market, The Pineapple House. I personally enjoy my honey daily on my morning oatmeal, and I always keep the empty Muth jars to make simple yet delicious homemade salad dressings.
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