Posted on 11/08/2011 9:14:13 AM PST by opbuzz
More than three-fourths of the honey sold in U.S. grocery stores isn't exactly what the bees produce, according to testing done exclusively for Food Safety News.
The results show that the pollen frequently has been filtered out of products labeled "honey." The removal of these microscopic particles from deep within a flower would make the nectar flunk the quality standards set by most of the world's food safety agencies.
(Excerpt) Read more at foodsafetynews.com ...
I believe that if properly prepared before storage and maintained in the proper environment, most dried seeds (grains, beans, peas, etc) will last indefinitely.
How big can a hive get? Can you keep adding trays or drawers indefinitely?
No, there is an upper limit to how big the hive can get which is how many eggs/day the queen can lay. that number is around 1,000 to 1,500 per day. Bees live around 60 to 90 days depending on the conditions, so eventually the hive reaches a steady state in the nectar flow season. during the winter, the hive shrinks to around 15,000 bees.
Eventually the queen wears out, roughly three years, and it all starts over.
Do they produce a replacement queen to take over the existing hive? Or does a new queen start from zero workers?
to keep the hive from swarming you can add space to the hive and/or take honey off it so the bees believe they have to keep filling the hive. when they feel cramped, they produce a new queen and swarm. another interesting thing they do, there is a group of bees at the entrance that unload the incoming bees. they sample all the bees arriving and unload the bees that have the highest quality product coming in. only that bee can then do a dance to recruit other bees to go out to that high value source, that's how the bees work a source till it gives out and how they prioritize. they only bring in three things: water, nectar (carbo) or pollen (protein). the unloading bees know what the hive needs at that point.
Here’s a recipe for Berry honey mustard pretzel dip you might like to try.
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup spicy brown mustard
2 Tbsp. raspberry preserves
1 Tbsp. Blackberry jelly
1 Tbsp. mustard seeds
Stir together well use with pretzel sticks.
Makes about 1 1/3 cup.
Just saying.
you must live near philly
Is it possible to convince a hive to swarm into a new vacant behive structure that you stock with wax racks? THen you have essentially split your hive into two for twice the honey production.
it is. in fact people put little capture hives around existing hives to catch the swarm.
i was in africa and there, the guys who live in the woods build empty hives out of bark and hang them in the trees, and bees just move in.
If you pasteurize it to remove some of the pathogens is it not still milk?
Then if pollen is somehow removed in processing why is it not honey? Stupid IMO
Thanks
Yeah, but they sure as hell ain’t going to Shenzhen to get it!
The extra-fine filtering removes pollens and yeasts that help cause granulation.
Dark, granulated honey doesn't bother me much, but most consumers want a light colored, liquid honey. They will turn up their noses at honey that has granulated.
He was talking shelf life...
As to putting out sugar syrup for feed, in the hopes of making "honey", that doesn't work with sucrose. The bees will readily take it, store what they don't use, but one glance shows it to be what it is-- somewhat dehydrated sugar water, since it will remain clear. AND it will eventually granulate in the cell, rendering it useless to the bees, and a something of a problem to both them and the beekeeper.
That being said, there's nothing better than sucrose sugar syrup to facilitate comb building (when and IF the bees need build comb) and/or to help stimulate the queen back to laying in the early spring.
Though to produce more bees they do need pollen also, or some protein substitute, in a pinch. Something around 20 to 25% protein is best, according to the literature. Less than that, they will literally get skinny. More than that, they can't seem to digest and make use of...
From what I have read on the subject, some honey can be adulterated with HFCS (high fructose corn syrup), although it is a simple matter (from a beekeeper's perspective) to avoid doing so.
As to avoiding HFCS blending in, a beekeeper need only not extract honey from any frames that had been on the bees when they were being given supplemental feed.
Further down the road, a little closer to the eventual grocery-buying public, a careful honey packer should likely be able to avoid being tricked, if said packer buys only "raw" strained, primarily filtered (not fine or ultra-fine filtered) honey, for it will have signature pollens, yeasts & proteins not found in HFCS, even though the HFCS 55 that is most commonly fed to bees, has the same general ratio of fructose/glucose as honey.
The packer can then, if desired, do the final filtering, of course.
The big packers do conduct tests beyond brix (brix relates to water content). Or so they say, and beekeepers report that they do.
I have come across gossip and rumor that a large honey producer got some (potentially HFCS adulterated honey) past the largest packer, without a blink at least once, some years ago. Perhaps that producer was big enough to do his own fine filtering?
The packer might have just decided to roll with it, I don't know. But I do suspect most all commercial honey packers have tightened inspections in the last few years, if they were not rigorous enough to begin with.
Whatever the case...they better not get caught. I think they know that.
Probably have another 12-15 gallons yet to harvest, and I will try to remember to take some pictures while we are de-capping the comb and putting the frames in the extractor to spin the honey out.
I still find it fascinating, but it is hard work too. Those boxes full of honey are really heavy!
Honey, and dry white rice (not brown) never spoil. Nor does sugar.
The clearer, "pretty" honey that looks so good in the jar has all of the pollen strained out.
The honey harvested yesterday tasted of the flowers that the bees had been working. One funny thing is that the fall honey in our area is tastier than the spring, mostly due to the goldenrod and ragweed. While people love to label honey with such names as clover and wildflower, you won't find any jars of labeled "ragweed honey" on the shelves of the health store.
However I will promise to buy all the "bad" honey from any grocery store that stocks the real thing. :)
Those of you who are lucky enough to be able to keep hives, I am jealous.
Clover honey, the most popular type nationwide, if properly filtered and if not allowed to get to cool, stays liquid well enough (some honeys do better? I can't remember which ones...) and has the nice light amber color most folks nowadays recognize as what honey should "look like", as far as they know.
I blame Canada. And SueBee :^)
There are many web sources regarding bee keeping nowadays...
If you have a saw which can cut or rip a board straight and regular, there are simplified hive types which can be built using scrap lumber. Just watch out for nails in the lumber when using a power saw. Where eye protection, etc.
Check this out; http://www.beginningbeekeeping.com/TopBarHiveBeekeeping.html.
By no means is that site all inclusive of top bar styles of beekeeping. Done right, they can be a good step above simple "bee having". There's even a guy in New Mexico who does some relatively small distance "migratory" & pollination with them.
One could build along those lines, and use the prepared topbars in any lightweight but snug (to both elements, and "sound") box to use as a bait trap wherever there are other bees around. Then, if one gets lucky, they can transfer the bars over to a stronger box. Swarm lures can be bought thru Dadant and other supply houses. One can use lemongrass oil too. Even lemon pledge will work for a few days.
I'd love it if they said, "here, take this junk off our hands."
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