11/18/2024
Scorpion Honey was an experiment in food preservation, specifically the Trinidad scorpion peppers I grew in my kitchen garden in 2020. Metal Honey Foods was its parent experiment, which started as a metal casting side business and became – by way of pure penny pinching laziness – a platform on which to sell Scorpion Honey.
I’ve never been shy about the fact that MHF is not a dream project so much as a thing that worked during an uncertain time. The pandemic evaporated my career in live music and events marketing, and I was left, like so many Americans, standing in my pajamas at noon obsessing over whatever distracted me from the 240 volt current of panic running through my veins 24 hours a day. In my case, it was growing super hot peppers and figuring out how to preserve them without cooking.
In my fumbling, on-the-fly attempt at becoming a competent business owner (results still pending), I drove Metal Honey like a demolition derby car, and its bone-crunching lessons yielded something entirely unexpected: successful independent entrepreneurs must be motivated first and foremost by their passion for their product and its production.
So here is the real talk: I’m over the honey and sweet condiment game. When you add water to sugar, you get something sticky, and I’ve been peeling my skin, my clothes, my shoes off of every floor and sink and self for four years and the production kind of sucks the fun out of selling the product. Cleanup is nightmarish and without a floor drain and hose, cleaning up spills and drips requires more mopping than a Roman phalanx of janitors.
I learned so much from Metal Honey, from trademarking product names to tax write offs to labeling requirements, and I’m so grateful to my customers and your excitement for my products over the years. I loved talking to you all about cooking and recipes, about the trips for which the diehards packed Scorpion Honey, about the loved ones you sent my products to. I’m absolutely honored.
I’ve made the difficult but necessary decision to end all Metal Honey Foods production as of January 1, 2025 and transition to a new line of products. Scorpion Honey, Sweet Stinger and Burger Jam will be available to order until Dec 31, 2024 and after that, they go into the MHF vault forever. Which is what I call my brain.
We only get to do this life thing once, and I need to free up the time and energy needed to devote to something I’m really excited about to make it work.
I’ll have more info about that as it comes up, but for now, just know that I am so grateful for every purchase, every smile, every person who has used and loved MHF products since September of 2020.
