Mary Sautter moved to the Big Island’s Hamakua Coast in 2008 with her husband, Peter Genier, looking forward to retirement after selling their 1,800-hive apiary in Vermont.

Genier set up eight beehives on their Paauilo property as a hobby — “bees are his passion,” his wife says. Soon, nearby ranchers were asking to use the bees to pollinate their crops, and the couple’s bee community began to grow.

“We grew to 50 hives, to 100, to 200,” Sautter said. “By 200 I knew retirement was over.”

In 2013 their apiary, now certified organic, became Hawai’i Harvest Honey. Sautter, who handles sales and administration, used this second-generation career to indulge her interest in the medicinal qualities of food, which led to the development of a turmeric and ginger blend, as well as the Bubba Baba Blue Ginger honey, named for the variety of ginger Sautter uses.

The ginger comes from Hawaii Clean Seed, an organic farm in Pahoa, which also provides Sautter with Red Hawaiian turmeric.

The turmeric honey especially has an intriguing savory quality, spiced with a bit of black pepper.

Find Hawai’i Harvest Honey in cute, giftable 4.5-ounce honey pots with an iiwi bird on the cover for about $7 at Down to Earth and Dean & Deluca stores, Lupicia in Ala Moana Center, Celestial Natural Foods in Haleiwa and most Foodland supermarkets. Or order via hawaiiharvesthoney.com. Larger sizes are also available.