The Buzz On Grand Wailea Hotel's Rooftop Bee Colony

Bees buzz around seven hives on the rooftop hotel of the Grand Wailea in Maui, Hawaii, yielding around a gallon of Kiawe-white honey each month, which is then used in their mango granola parfait in their Grand Dining Room — and even applied in the Spa Grande's Ali'i honey-mango steam cocoon treatment, where spa-goers are slathered in warm honey.

"The high point I think for us is when the honey was designated a 'Made in Maui' product after it got approved by the Department of Health here in Maui," said the hotel's managing director Matt Bailey in an email to The Daily Meal. "We enjoy finding new, inventive ways to continue incorporating the honey in our restaurants and spa, and encourage visitors to stop by Café Kula for a bottle to bring back to the mainland."

Not only is this colony upping the honeybee population on the island and including local beekeepers in the creation process, it is symbiotically sustaining its own honey and using it in very creative ways. Since artisanal honey is efficacious for skin hydration and killing bacteria, it can be used for much more than food.

We could invoke the bee's knees cliché here or admit that this is a honey of an idea, but we'll settle for saying that the Grand Wailea's intelligent bee-colony initiative should have everyone buzzing.