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From Hive to Jar - local honey, summer blossom honey, soft set honey
Foraging For Nectar
Beekeepers who have acquired a good knowledge of the floral sources in their locality will be able to maintain their colonies in the best places for getting honey. Part of the skill of beekeeping is to enable the maximum population of foraging bees at the time when there is the maximum number of flowers. This gives our bees the best chance of collecting as much nectar as they can - and of course for us to utilise the resulting honey crop.
Why do bees cap the honeycomb once it's full?
When the water content of the nectar has reached the right point, bees will cap the honey. This means covering the cell with a thin layer of wax, ensuring the honey stored in the cell will maintain the same water content.
Uncapping Honey Frames
"Uncapping" refers to removing the thin beeswax covering off your honey frames, called the "cappings," to expose your honey—only when the honey is exposed using the proper tools and equipment can it then be extracted.
Extracting Our Honey
A honey extractor is a mechanical device used to extract honey from the combs. A honey extractor extracts the honey from the honey comb without destroying the comb. Extractors work by centrifugal force. A drum or container holds a frame basket which spins, flinging the honey out. With this method the wax comb stays intact within the frame and can be reused by the bees.
Filtering The Honey
Filtering of honey is routinely used to remove pollen and all visible impurities. At Radiance Honey we strain though a mesh size that removes visible impurities such as insect parts (bees' wings, legs etc.) and larger beeswax particles left over from the extraction process but retains all the natural pollen as shown in the video to the left.
The honey is then left to settle in the tank for around 48 hours to allow the air bubbles to rise to the surface before jarring.
Putting Our Honey into Jars
The jars are cleaned by putting them upside down in the dishwasher and putting them through a complete wash cycle and then sterilised by putting them in an oven, preheated to 140-degree C, which is then switched off to cool down to a handleable temperature. The lids are washed in hot soapy water, rinsed and allowed to air dry.
The filling part of honey processing is straightforward. A jar is filled, weighed and a lid is immediately put on it. The skill with filling is to close the honey valve just at the right time, to get the correct weight first time, to avoid getting any bubbles in the honey, particularly at the neck, and to get all the honey inside the jar!
Labelling Honey
The final stage is to add the labels, and then it's ready for sale.
Our local honey is available to buy in our online shop. We have a choice of summer blossom honey & soft set honey