Honey bees spend their entire life
pollinating flowers and making honey. Bees use pollen
that they gather from flowers to create honey that the
bees use to feed themselves. Beekeepers are responsible
for removing the honey from the bees and using for human
consumption.
After the beekeeper has collected the honey from the
bees, removed the wax caps that the bees use to seal the
honey in the honey comb, and extracted the honey from
the honeycomb it's time to process the honey.
Not all beekeepers have process their honey. Unprocessed
honey is marketed with words like raw, areanic,
unfiltered, and natural printed on the label. The words
are different words to say unprocessed. Beekeepers that
choose to process their honey, should have it done as
quickly after extracting the honey as possible. The act
of processing honey is making sure that the honey is
heated and filtered. Processing honey is a sticky and
hot process, it is important that the person is patient
and diligent. The area where the processing is taking
place should be kept clean and free of insects. Before
you start processing the honey crop make sure that all
your equipment is dry. Honey absorbs water. Honey that
has to much water in it will ferment.
Experienced beekeepers can look at a vat of honey and
tell you what type of flower the worker bees who were
attracted to when they were gathering pollen. They can
do this by looking at the honey's color. The type of
flower the bees collected pollen from also affects the
honey's flavor. Other factors like soil quality and
honey comb quality can change the flavor of the honey.
On the average lighter colored honey has a milder flavor
then darker colored honey. There sre approximately three
hundred different varieties of honey produced in the
United States.
The plugs that bees use to seal honey into the honey
combs can be used to make bee's wax candles.
For the health conscious, honey is a great substitute
for white sugar.
Honey that is still in the honeycomb has a more natural
flavor then honey that has been extracted. Extracted
honey works best for flavoring teas and cooking.
Fans of natural healing have always bee big fans of
honey for medicinal purposes. It is believed that honey
is an excellent way to soothe sore throats, can help
regulate blood pressure, burns, pressure wounds, and
infectious wounds. Honey has been used by Chinese
apothecaries to soothe aches and pains. The Egyptians
favored using honey when they were treating wounds. Even
the Greeks and Romans left behind literature that spoke
of the medicinal benefits of honey for curing various
forms of illnesses.