Making honey is more complicated than simply owning a beehive.  

A bee who forages on a different flora will ultimately alter the flavour of your honey, but mother-daughter duo Angela and Millie know this natural flavouring is the key to good honey. 

The pair owns a small-scale apiary in the central goldfields, and locals are loving their minimal filtering approach to honey making.  

We caught up with Angela to hear what else goes into a good pot of honey. 

Tell us about the origins of Enbom Honeys? 
Enbom Honeys is a mother and daughter business run by us, Angela Enbom and Millie Enbom-Goad. We are passionate about healthy living and caring for the environment. As a teenager, Millie decided she wanted to keep bees and we were fortunate to have a cousin, Colin Smith, who has kept bees for over 60 years. We caught the bug and we have been keeping bees and harvesting honey ever since. 
 
At what point did you know making honey was something you wanted to pursue? 
We care primarily for the bees, their well-being, and genuinely value the rewards they produce. Each time we harvest honey it’s as exciting as the first time. It’s just that now we have more hives than the two we started with and just a little bit more honey. 
 
Can you talk us through the honey making process? 
Our bees are moved around the central goldfields district of Victoria, predominantly foraging on eucalyptus species. This is largely dependent on the season and what is flowering. Every honey flow is different, and our honey is defined by both the flora and the season. Once we have enough honey in our hives, we then extract the honey by uncapping the honeycomb and spinning out the honey in an extractor. This then goes into our jars – nothing added and nothing taken away. 
 
What is the secret to good honey? 
Healthy bees 
 
What makes your honey different? 
Our style of beekeeping is in line with the slow food movement. We believe that food that is produced consciously is better for us and better for the environment. We only sell our honey that we extract personally from our hives and the majority of our equipment is built by Millie’s brother Lewis, hand cut and made specifically for us. 
Given all our honey comes from our own hives this means that our honey is seasonal and the flavour of honey will depend on the season and what flora is producing nectar where our bees are in that year. Just like with any type of farming – every season is different. 
 
Where can we pick up and taste your honey? 
The Honey Drop, our farmgate shop is open every Saturday 9-12pm, and is located just east of Ballarat at our permaculture farm and apiary. 

You can also find our honey at various wholefoods collectives in the region (including in Ballarat, Creswick, Buninyong and Hepburn), as well as cafes or stores such as Webster’s Market Cafe, The Source – Ballarat, The Forge, 1816 Bakehouse, Talbot Provedore, Craig’s Royal Hotel, Thru the Gate Café – Smythesdale, Pyrenees Prime Cut Butchers – Maryborough, Avoca, Ararat; Ballan Fruit and Vegetable – Ballan, and our local Bungaree general store or via a White Swan Free Range Eggs home delivery. 
 
What do you love most about the Ballarat region? 
We love that we have proper seasons including snow in winter and thunderstorms in summer. We also love the regional diversity, including the fact that within a few hours of home we can wander in pine forests in Creswick, explore Mt Cole in the snow or traipse through bushland around Talbot. 
 
What are the top three recommendations of things to do in the Ballarat region? 

• A walk around Lake Wendouree and the Ballarat Botanical Gardens 
• Community Garden Harvest Festival 
• Eating out or grabbing a coffee with family and friends at one of the great restaurants in Ballarat and surrounds