When something piques Laryssa Kwoczak’s interest, she makes a beeline for it.

So it was in the fall of 2010 when she attended a festival for an urban farm in Philadelphia that had hives on the roof of a garage. "I was immediately hooked," said Kwoczak, who later learned her great-grandfathers were beekeepers in Ukraine. "I started reading everything I could find about beekeeping; took a two-hour, $5 beekeeping class; and made my first hive with my dad’s help. I’ve been keeping bees ever since."

Today, Kwoczak leads 90-minute tours for Big Island Bees, one of Hawaii’s oldest and largest honey producers. Garnett Puett, a fourth-generation commercial beekeeper, and his wife, Whendi Grad, own and operate the company, which was started in 1971 by Puett’s stepfather.

The tour begins in Big Island Bees’ 1,000-square-foot museum, which displays photos and illustrations of the honey-making process, the history of beekeeping and Puett’s family’s background in the business.

Also exhibited are beeswax sculptures by Puett, an observation hive, protective gear and beekeeping equipment, including a smoker, which looks like a thermos with a bellows and angled cone-shaped top. Before Kwoczak examines a hive, she uses this stainless-steel tinderbox to blow smoke from smoldering weeds, ohia bark and pine needles over it.

"The smoke masks my scent so the bees won’t think of me as an intruder and get alarmed," she said. "If I don’t smoke the hive, they could get agitated and release a pheromone that’s akin to setting off a siren."

Outside, Kwoczak opens a demonstration Langstroth hive as tour participants watch from behind a screened viewing area. This type of hive, which is commonly used in commercial beekeeping, comprises three to six boxes, each containing seven to nine frames on which the bees build honeycombs to store the nectar they gather from flowers.

When the bees fan the nectar with their wings, the water in it evaporates. The nectar becomes honey when its water content is 18 percent. Big Island Bees extracts the raw honey, gently strains it and bottles it without heat, thus preserving its natural flavor and nutritional value.

Kwoczak shows visitors several frames, pointing out bees that are hatching, worker bees, drones and, with luck, the elusive queen.

There is only one queen in each hive. She lives up to five years and can lay as many as 2,000 eggs per day.

Drones are stingless male bees whose sole responsibility is to mate with a queen bee. They do that once, then die.

More than 30,000 worker bees (about 95 percent of the hive’s population) inhabit a typical commercial hive. As their name suggests, these sterile female bees toil throughout their life span of three to six weeks — caring for the queen and babies, making honeycomb, guarding the hive, collecting nectar and producing honey.

Big Island Bees manages 2,000 hives in remote, pesticide-free areas all over Hawaii island — from Kau to Kohala and Hilo to Hualalai. Each of its bee yards accommodates an average of 80 to 100 hives.

"We move our hives three times a year to follow the bloom of macadamia nut, ohia lehua and wilelaiki (Christmas berry) flowers," Kwoczak said. "The moves ensure our bees have access to abundant nectar to make honey."

Flowers are to honey as grapes are to wine. Each of Big Island Bees’ varietals has a distinctive look, aroma and taste derived from its single-floral source.

Dark brown Macadamia Nut Blossom Honey has a nutty flavor and a smooth texture, making it a great substitute for syrup on waffles and pancakes.

Certified organic Ohia Lehua Blossom Honey is white with a delicate flavor and a thick, finely grained texture. It’s a delicious spread for toast, muffins and biscuits.

Orange-coloredWilelaiki Blossom Honey is also certified organic. Its subtle smoky and peppery finish pairs well with cheeses and savory dishes.

"Each of our hives produces about 200 pounds of honey a year because flowers bloom year-round in Hawaii’s warm, mild climate," Kwoczak said. "On the East Coast the beekeeping season runs only from April through September, so the average annual yield there is 60 pounds of honey per hive."

The tour concludes in the museum with free honey tastings and "talk story" time with Kwoczak and Retail Manager Kevin Deeds, who knows all about the Big Island Bees products available for sale, including honey, beeswax balms and candles, and salves and soap made from honey.

Invariably, visitors ask about the risks of beekeeping. "Bees only sting if they’re provoked and think that their hive is in danger," Kwoczak said. "The fact that they have such an orderly and productive social system is amazing. Little bees can teach us big lessons."

Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based freelance writer whose travel features for the Star-Advertiser have won several Society of American Travel Writers awards.