Left, a steel centrifuge
extractor is ready to
accept the frames,
which will be spun at
great speed. The honey
pools at the bottom and
is piped off. It will be
at least rough-filtered
to remove wax and
particles.
The wax caps are also
processed in a cap
spinner to separate
honey from beeswax,
another product.
Right, honey on tap,
the sweet result!
Stage Six: Mixing and settling tanks.
The honey is then pumped into the stirring and settling tanks before it is
poured into drums to be transported (in the case of Hayward’s company) to
the wholesale buyer. Every drum is labelled and has a sample testing for tutin
toxin (see right). Every batch is recorded and listed for tracking – where the
hives were located, the day it was harvested, weighed, spun and drummed.
Wholesale buyers may then do further filtering, testing manuka honey
for bioactivity, blending, and jarring to be sold under its own label. Of
course, many beekeepers choose to package, label and sell their own
distinct brand and related bee products such as royal jelley, bee pollen,
propolis wax, and even bee venom!
We will write more about those products and about manuka honey, its
medical potency standards, and the many ways honey is healing in part
four of our ‘bee and honey’ series.
Honey is available in several forms, ranging from raw: off-the-comb
to filtered pasteurized honey. Below is a quick guide to selecting your
preferred type of honey. But let’s first stop to appreciate how much work
went into producing the honey... by the bees that is!
A colony averages around 50,000 bees and each hive can yield up to
5 liters of honey. To make 1 lbs/.45 kg, bees will visit around 2 million
flowers. A bee visits 50/100 flowers each trip, gathering only one drop
of nectar. It makes up to 24 trips per day. Bees normally live 2-5
weeks, although overwintering bees survive about 3 months.
Do bees like honey? You bet! So, if you are discarding that sticky
honeyjar during warm months, place in a secluded corner of your yard
and let the bees (and other critters) enjoy it. Be aware though, deep
pools of honey will catch bees; ironically, they get stuck and drown.
HONEY BUYING GUIDE
Honey Comb –
If you want to ensure you are really
getting the purest honey, buy it in the comb. Honey is
at its finest straight from the hive. It’s usually touted as
‘fresh’ and sold in block or chunks and floating in the
jar. Honey Comb is obviously unfiltered so will contain
natural particles of pollen, bee parts (hopefully not the stinger!), dirt and
perhaps some yeast or other spores. Of course, you will get the wax too,
which is chewed but not swallowed.
Raw Honey:
Raw honey offers health and flavour benefits over
unheated honey, and most beekeepers boast about not heating theirs.
High heat can change the flavour, decrease enzyme activity, change
sugar composition, decrease yeast activity, and alter its thickness.
Organic Honey:
Organic honey is sourced from bees collecting pollen
and nectar from non-sprayed plants, usually in wilderness bush areas or
large tracts of organic farms. Organic certification also requires that any
sugar supplements fed to colonies must be organic.
Filtered/Unfiltered Honey:
Most, but not all, supermarket honey is
filtered and heated to varying levels to assist in the filtering out of
dirt, wax, pollen, etc. Check your labels. Unfiltered, like raw, is usually
sourced directly from small producers and organic shops.
Creamed Honey
: No, cream hasn’t been added. The ‘pearly’ spreadable
texture of creamed honey is a result of the crystallisation process. When
the honey is bottled, the small crystals are disturbed which aligns them,
the flat crystals reflect the light giving the gloss while the edges of the
crystals are dark creating the light and dark swirls. Mouth watering!
Monofloral Honey:
Beekeepers position their hives
in blossoming orchards, paddocks, or valleys full
of particular varieties. The resulting honey will have
a unique taste depending on the blossom source.
Shown right is a rewarewa blossom, a favourite among
both bees and honey connoisseurs.
Honeydew or Forest Honey:
This nectar is collected
from a sweet secretion deposited on tree surfaces
by plant sucking aphids or similar scale insects.
Why so sweet? The insects process a lot of plant
sap to extract the precious protein, and the liquid is
instantly excreted. It is not only sweet, but also laden with nutrients,
minerals and antioxidants. Bees collect this ‘honey dew’ (usually
before and after blossoming seasons) from bark and use it to
produce honey.
Medicinal Grade Honey:
Honey has natural healing qualities for wound
care, and honey used in medicine is processed by certified facilities in
sterile conditions. The honey is filtered many times and even irradiated
to destroy spores and bacteria, and is then embedded in bandages or
packaged in tubes. Manuka honey is extremely healing, with certified
ratings to indicate effective healing qualities.
- Carol Wright
Nectar collected from the native tutin plant (botanical name Coriaria)
produces a toxin in the resulting honey. Beekeepers either collect
their hives before the tutin plants blossom after Christmas, or they
have their honey tested and certified, a legal requirement for all honey
harvested after January 1. It is mandatory for commercial producers,
but all hobby beekeepers may not comply.
WHAT IS
THE TOXIN
TUTIN?
Honey
IN ALL ITS FORMS
44
COROMANDEL LIFE LATE AUTUMN/WINTER
