n FOOD
T
he Zeldner family legacy is rooted in yellow star this- handled everything else, from the processing and production
tle. The noxious weed, an invasive species native to the to invoicing and bookkeeping.
Mediterranean region of southern Europe and north-
Back then, most honey on the market was wildflower,
ern Africa, covers an estimated 14 million acres in Cal- meaning the bees fed on whatever happened to be avail-
ifornia. It grows densely and depletes soil moisture. It able, with the occasional orange blossom or clover varietal.
can cause a fatal nervous disorder in horses who graze on it. Moonshine Trading Company offered, in addition to yellow
The spines that extend from the flower head, giving the plant star thistle, flavors like eucalyptus and sunflower. Amina de-
its name, are the bane of hikers and grazing animals alike. scribes her husband as a visionary in the world of honey who
For honeybees, however, the yellow star thistle is an excellent foresaw a market for an array of unique and dynamic flavors,
food source during dry summer months.
akin to the wine or cheese industries, where subtleties and
“People hate the plant but love the honey,” says family quality were not just appreciated but expected.
matriarch Amina Harris, who oversees the UC Davis Honey
The couple worked out of their home before renting 1,500
and Pollination Center. “And for the bees, sometimes it’s the square feet of space in Winters. They built brand awareness
only summer forage.”
by attending trade shows. Amina recalls how shocked she and
Her late husband, Ishai Zeldner, used 180 pounds of yel- her husband were at their first, in Atlanta, to see a flood of peo-
low star thistle honey he procured from commercial bee- ple lining up at their booth just 15 minutes in. “No one had
keepers in Orland in Glenn County in 1979
thought of varietal honey,” she
to launch what would grow into his specialty
shrugs.
food business. He loved yellow star thistle
They were featured in the
honey so much that, until that point, he’d
gourmet food section of depart-
been procuring the honey, processing it and
ment stores and a large portion of
giving it away.
the business came from holiday
That’s a far cry from what Z Speciality
gift baskets. Together the duo built
Food, and its Moonshine Trading Company
a profitable, if not time-intensive
label, has grown into four decades later. The
and solidly fourth-quarter, little
varietal honeys — the company now offers
business. Ishai focused on finding
more than 30, in addition to fruit spreads,
the top honey varietals the United
nut butters and other items — have found a
States had to offer, processing and
Family patriarch Ishai Zeldner, cultivating honey
new and growing market under the guidance
packaging them, and selling them
in the 1980s, learned the art of beekeeping while
of his son, Josh Zeldner. The complany, cel-
under the Moonshine Trading
living on a kibbutz in Israel in his 20s.
ebratingt its 40th anniversary, broke ground
Company label while Amina, who
in August on a new Woodland facility that will not only dou- worked full-time as a teacher, oversaw design and branding.
ble its warehouse size, but position the tiny under-the-radar
“Josh has been selling honey since he was 4,” Amina
family business as a community gathering space at the inter- laughs, settling into a chair in her modest office within the
section of farm to fork, gourmet food and pollinator support. Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science in July.
The shelves are cluttered with honey jars, and plastic sample
GOING GOURMET
cups are scattered across a desk. A stack of cardboard tasting
Ishai was raised in Brooklyn, where his parents ran a grocery dials she’s developed for honey sits beside them.
store specializing in wild game. He spent his 20s living on a
As a child, Josh, 33, recalls his father up at 5 a.m. for sales
kibbutz in Israel, where he learned the art of beekeeping. Af- calls to the East Coast, and awaking to see employees arriving
ter a brief stint running the family business until his father’s for work — the company’s office was in the bedroom between
death, Ishai drove west to Davis in the late 1970s to continue his and his sister Shoshona’s.
studying the business of bees at UC Davis.
By 1998, the company had grown to 12 varieties of honey,
Amina, whom he had known since grade school and mar- as well as a selection of fruit spreads, nut butters and choc-
ried in 1982, joined him a few years later, not long after he olate nut spreads. It had also started packing and processing
launched Moonshine Trading Company, which then sold 6-8 products for other food producers. That year, Ishai moved
honey varieties and an almond butter. She took on the brand- the company from Winters into a 4,000-square-foot space in
ing, design and packaging of the product and helped shift the Woodland. In 2001, they acquired Island of the Moon Apiar-
company’s focus from natural food stores to a more informed ies of Esparto, which is farm-to-fork friendly with its focus
and niche clientele within the gourmet food industry. Ishai on wildflower honey from California producers, while Moon-
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comstocksmag.com | October 2019