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One other note on raw honey - ANY raw honey sold WILL crystallize. In fact, one of the characteristics of raw honey is that it is slightly cloudy even after extraction. This is due to light refraction from materials like pollen and micro crystals in the saturated solution. Left alone for a while, especially at cooler temperatures, it WILL solidify and become opaque. The speed of the phase change varies with the kinds of nectar used to make the honey. Some, like Aster and Goldenrod, seem to go very fast. Others, like Basswood, take forever. In any event, the crystallized honey is what I prefer. The lattice structure of the solid honey can be broken up fairly easily (table knife) and the honey is easily spread. This process is refined a bit to produce the familiar creamed, or spun honey, that you may be familiar with. I try to educate consumers about this form of honey all the time since it is the primary way that most of the world consumes their honey and, I think, it tastes a little better. Unfortunately, the packers have done a fine job of training consumers to think of honey as crystal clear stuff that stays liquid for eternity and tastes like, well, nothing. The important point is that RRH does NOT have an exclusive market corner with a solid product - any raw honey will do this.

Regarding other hive products...I regret to say I don't have a web page. I sell strictly through my market outlets and then, only in smaller volumes since I am only a sideliner.

Royal jelly is very labor intensive to produce and collect. My source is through swarm cells that I manage to reduce since their presence is a precursor to the colony dividing and leaving the hive I have maintained. It will also mean the loss of a productive colony for a season. So, I actually work against the production of royal jelly (RJ) and for the production of liquid honey. In Asia and particularly in China, some of their production centers on promoting conditions optimal for the production of this substance, but it is still labor intensive and yields per queen cell are probably well below a gram. So you can see why it is so prohibitively expensive. A kilo is 1,000 grams so your quoted price works out to be about 0.13 cents per gram. In my local co-op, their 500 mg caps/90 per bottle is about $10.00, so they want 0.22 cents per gram. Your bulk buy is a good deal. The only problem I would thing about is spoilage. Most of the time the stuff is processed in some way and preservatives are added. This might be something like alcohol or benzoin, but the very nutritional qualities that consumers desire also make it a product that would be attractive to certain microbes. Frankly, I'd freeze it and use it in small quantities mixed with something else. The stuff is kind of funky straight - a little on the sour side.

All of my by product RJ is used in various formulas and preparations that go in my local markets. The same for the propolis. As I said before, this year I am going to implement some changes in my management that I think will yield greater amounts of the basic material and thus yield greater production for a refined product. At this time, I am in the early stages of producing a manual on production and refining a higher grade of propolis for consumer use aimed primarily at the beekeeper. At this time, I am unaware of any operations at my level that produce propolis of the quality or concentration that I do except from commercial sources.

Hope this helps some.