Beverley
Beekeepers' Association
The
local Beekeeping Association for East Yorkshire
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Hive
Products – Honey, Wax, Propolis, and Pollen
Honey
Honey is stored in the comb by the bees. It is a clear
liquid, its storage a model of hygienic food preservation.
Each cell is filled with pure, well ripened honey, covered
with an individual wax capping.
Most honey in the jar is a blend containing a mixture of
flavours gathered from flowers in the working area round
the hive. Honey varies in colour - the range goes through
the golden shades from almost colourless for pure borage,
to strong dark hues for horse chestnut and field beans, to
really dark for honeydew. When taken from the hive fully
sealed, most honey is liquid but after a period of storage,
particularly after extraction, it will granulate.
Granulation is a normal sign of maturity. Clover honey
granulates with a fine smooth quality. This honey is much
sought after, and is an excellent component of any blend.
Some types of honey set rather hard with a coarse, grainy
structure, which can be avoided by a process of warming to
completely dissolve the crystals and then stirring in some
partly fine crystallised honey of a good type as a seed to
give a smooth texture on resetting. Alternatively the
coarse granulated honey can be partially dissolved by
gentle heating and then stirred (creamed) to produce a
spreadable honey known as soft set.
Heather honey is in a separate class, it is a gel which
flows when stirred; it is usually a rich reddish / amber in
colour and is the honey of the connoisseur.
One of the traditional forms of honey is in the comb. In
skep beekeeping days the sealed honey storage comb was just
cut out and sold in the country markets, then the ‘section’
came in. This is a wooden frame just over 4"square carrying
about a pound of honey. A more recent method of
presentation is ‘cut comb’ - small pieces of sealed comb,
from 8 to 12 ozs, packed in transparent topped plastic
cases. The attraction of comb honey is that it retains its
full flavour and aroma, some of which is inevitably lost in
the extraction process.
Wax
Beeswax
is a premium product that can be used to make polish,
candles, cosmetics, as well as many other products. If you
do not want to clean and use your own wax you can sell it
to other members or your can exchange it for new foundation
from beekeeping suppliers.
Propolis
Propolis
(bee glue) can be collected from the hive. Bees use it to
seal up small holes and as a natural antiseptic. It is used
to make a tincture sold in many health food shops
particularly for skin complaints.
Pollen
Some
beekeepers collect pollen which is used as a health food.
Widely available in Europe, it has never gained popularity
in UK.
Royal
Jelly
Again
this can be collected and sold to pharmaceutical companies.
It is used in beauty and ageing treatments, but it takes a
lot of collecting.