How Is Honey Produced?
We all love the sweet, golden, sticky substance we call Honey and we all know it comes from a beehive, but how does this amazing 6 legged insect we call a Bee create this pantry staple?
Where the real work happens
The whole process begins with the bee leaving the hive in search for nectar, a sugary substance excreted by flower blossoms. They suck up the nectar using their tongues (proboscis). This nectar is stored in the bee’s honey stomach, this is separate from their normal food stomach.
Once the Bee has collected a full load of nectar they head back to the hive and transfer this nectar to other worker bees in the hive using their mouths. The workers then chew on this nectar for a half hour or so. The nectar is passed from bee to bee as it starts to become honey.
Once the nectar has turned into something that resembles honey, it is placed in a honeycomb cell in the honey super, the honey is still wet at this point so the bees fan the cell with their wings to evaporate remaining moisture. Once the cell is full and the honey is dry and sticky, the workers seal the cell with a wax cap to keep the honey clean.
From Hive to Human
This is where we, the beekeepers, come in. The Bees have done all the hard work foraging and preparing the honey, it has taken 8 bees their whole lives to produce just 1 teaspoon of honey.
Beekeepers keep an eye on their hives and monitor for the optimal window to harvest (or rob) the hive. The process starts by clearing the super of Bees, this can be achieved by using a clearer board that allows bees to travel down into the next box but not return to the super you are wanting to remove. This can take 12 - 24 hrs to clear out a box and make it ready for harvest.
Once clear, the super is removed from the hive and taken to a processing room. The frames are removed from the super and the wax capping is removed using a knife. The frames are then placed into an extractor that spins the frames at a high RPM using centrifugal force to remove the honey. Once the frames are empty they are removed from the extractor and the remaining wax is cleaned from the frames into a bucket, to be processed later.
Once all frames have been processed, the honey is drained from the extractor through a 2 stage filter, into a storage bucket. This is later transferred into individual jars for sale.
The wax and cappings removed earlier are placed in a wax press and pressure is applied to extract any remaining honey from the wax. Once honey free, the wax is put into a double boiler wax melter to start the cleaning process. The wax is put through the melter a number of times to clean finer and finer debris from the wax, leaving pure clean beeswax at the end of the process. This is then melted one last time and poured into measured moulds ready for sale.
The next time you drizzle some honey on your breakfast or drop into your tea, you can now say you now know where your honey came from and the work that the bees have carried out to bring it to you.
8 bees for 1tsp