My daughter and I are hobbyist Kansas beekeepers and keep several hives ourselves. We don’t take advantage of all the wonderful resources our hives make so we like to support other beekeepers with products we don’t utilize from ours. As you can imagine we were thrilled to receive products from Hillside Honey Apiary. I’m excited to tell you about All Natural Beeswax Hand repair and Eczema Lotion Essentials, Cinnamon Creamed Honey, Vanilla Bean Infused Raw Honey, and Lavender Lemon Beeswax & Honey Lip Balm from Hillside Honey Apiary.

Hillside Honey Apiary is a family owned bee farm in Leavenworth, Kansas. They have a variety of products available from the hives that you can order. All of their products are made and processed in their Kansas State Certified kitchen.

Hillside Honey Apiary only sells raw honey that is strained while harvesting the honey to remove bee parts and filtered later to remove any larger particles that may have been missed in the process. They don’t pasteurize their honey. You don’t have to worry about the honey being heated and killing the nutrients from their honey. They use natural methods to control pest and disease in their hives.

Cinnamon Creamed Honey

Cinnamon Creamed Honey comes in a plastic tub. It is made with raw honey, organic Ceylon, and cassia cinnamon. What I really like about creamed honey is the thick spreadable consistency of it. Creamed honey should be smooth to the palette and not grainy. That is how you can tell that someone knows how to make a proper batch of creamed honey! Hillside Honey Apiary is smooth, without the grainy texture, and not to mention tasty.

Another added benefit is that creamed honey is not as messy as liquid honey. It’s easy for kids to use without all the dripping sticky mess that liquid honey leaves behind. I also enjoy the variety of flavoring that you can get with creamed honey.

The cinnamon flavoring is perfectly blended and not an overwhelming cinnamon flavor. I like to spread my Cinnamon Creamed Honey on toast, peanut butter sandwiches, cinnamon raisin bread, challah bread, and quick bread. My favorite with the Cinnamon Creamed Honey is on my sweet potatoes! You can make some fantastic homemade honey cinnamon butter with it too. I even use creamed honey with hot teas. The added cinnamon flavoring is wonderful with certain tea flavors. I add it to my earl gray or orange spice tea and it enhance the flavor of the teas.

Creamed honey is shelf stable and needs to be stored at room temperature away from a window or vents. In warmer weather it may liquefy but, once the temperature drops the natural crystallization will take over.

Hillside Honey Apiary offers a variety of flavors in their creamed honey. If you have never had creamed honey you are missing out on a treat.

Vanilla Bean Infused Raw Honey

Vanilla Bean Infused Raw Honey is made with organic vanilla beans and raw honey. The vanilla bean pods are sliced opened and scraped. Then all of it is put it in warmed honey. They let it sit for several days while the vanilla is infusing its flavor in the honey. Hillside Honey Apiary has several flavors of infused honey to choose from.

You can keep the vanilla bean in the honey as it will just continue to enhance the vanilla flavor. The Vanilla Bean Infused Honey doesn’t have a strong taste but a subtle distinct vanilla flavor. The vanilla doesn’t overwhelm the sweet taste of the honey either.

Wondering what to do with infused honey, other than eat it straight out of the jar? Here are some of my favorite ways to use this honey: on fruit, ice cream, cheesecake, oatmeal, nuts, homemade granola, cheese, salads, cereal, and hot tea. It’s a nice way to add some more flavors to a recipe. You can even cook with infused honey. I keep my Vanilla Bean Infused Raw Honey on the counter so when I get a craving I can sweeten up my snacks, teas, and salads.

All Natural Beeswax Hand repair and Eczema Lotion Essentials

The lotion is formed in a mold that creates a gorgeous design. The lotion bar comes in a round metal tin with a cloth liner. The liner makes it easier to remove from the tin as it won’t stick to the bottom of the tin.

The heat of your hands is what activates the bar so you can apply it on your hands, elbows, knees, and feet. All you have to do is rub your hands over the bar to get yourself moisturized. It’s always the perfect amount and no liquid mess. They recommend that you apply it at bedtime for best results. You can also put the tin in your purse and use throughout the day.

The lotion bars are allergen-sensitive, handcrafted, and made in small batches. They use all-natural ingredients: sunflower oil, coconut oil, Shea butter, lanolin, vitamin E, beeswax, and essential oil. The beeswax is rendered from their own hives.

All Natural Beeswax Hand repair and Eczema Lotion Essentials is a spearmint scent. A very subtle smell and soothing lotion bar. I’m not usually a big fan of spearmint but, this is nice and not what I expected. I really like the spearmint scent of the lotion bar.

I prefer lotion bars over liquids and creams. I like that the lotion bars have beeswax in them. The beeswax leaves a nice gentle coating on the skin to repel excessive water. I personally think that the lotion last longer on your skin. It doesn’t feel greasy and feel like a residue is left behind either.

The guys in my family have eczema and in the winter time it flairs up. I just have dry skin and suffer from cracked hands and feet occasionally. I’m constantly putting lotion on throughout the day as I like my hands to feel smooth.

My guys on the other hand are horrible at applying lotion. My son hates the feel of lotions and would rather deal with the eczema than the greasy and residue of lotions. I usually can get him to apply lotion with a lotion bar. He applied the All Natural Beeswax Hand repair and Eczema Lotion Essentials at bedtime each night. I noticed a difference in my son’s chapped and cracked hands after two days of using the lotion bar. After a little over a week of regular use my son’s hands were smooth and the redness of the eczema went away. My husband took a bit longer as he is terrible at remembering to apply the lotion bar daily. I use it throughout the day and my hands feel so soft! I feel that this is working well with my family and their eczema.

Lavender Lemon Beeswax & Honey Lip Balm

I usually have several tubes of lip balm in my purse. My kids would tell you that I’m addicted to lip balm. I don’t buy name brand lip balms and prefer to use handcrafted lip balm. I like it when I can identify the ingredients in lip balm. Hillside Honey Apiary makes handcrafted lip balm. The lip balm is sealed in a shrink wrap seal. They use Shea butter, beeswax, organic coconut oil, virgin sunflower oil, raw honey, lavender and lemon oil, and vitamins A, D, and E.

I have been using Lavender Lemon Beeswax & Honey Lip Balm for several weeks now. The lavender and lemon is a great combination. I wouldn’t think the flavors would mingle so nicely. The lip balm has a hint of each flavor and yet it’s not strong to make your lips tingle. I’ve had some pretty strong lavender lip balm that leaves my lips burning and it ends up in the trash. The lip balm is smooth and glides on when applying. I like how it leaves my lips feeling soft and moisturized. Other flavors are available with their lip balm.

All Natural Beeswax Hand repair and Eczema Lotion Essentials has been claimed by my son this last week and now sits on his desk next to his bed. I think I will need to order a few more for my family. Cinnamon Creamed Honey and Vanilla Bean Infused Raw Honey is a favorite of everyone in the family. I love the Lavender Lemon Beeswax & Honey Lip Balm.

Hillside Honey Apiary products have been a huge hit in my family. I love supporting family businesses and I’m kind of fond of fellow beekeepers.

Product review by Renee Knoblauch, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, December, 2018