Spruce's honey bees

Hi Jiffy

Great question and I will try my best to explain.

I call it creamed honey which is totally different from a "runny honey " that has set hard in the jar which if you want to make runny again place the jar in warm water , just so you know over time all honey will set hard.

To make creamed honey this is what you do
Bee keepers choose honeys with naturally high dextrose levels, such as Clover , OSR oil seed rape , then gently heat the honey to melt the natural sugar crystals in a large pan on the cooker once that has been done , it then gets chilled and then a jar of already creamed honey called ‘seeding’ by blending it with with the honey in the pan you mix them together with a large wooden spoon.
Stir the seeding honey thoroughly into the liquid honey, you need to completely spread the granulated honey thorough the liquid honey.

Stir it several times over the next week. It should start clouding, as the granulation spreads rapidly through the honey. You then put into jars .
The honey should be nicely creamed, set with a fine, smooth grain, within a week or two.

Hope I have explained it enough if not ask .....

Spruce

 

Hi Jiffy
I missed part of your question

The higher the fructose content, the longer the honey will remain liquid. Some honeys contain more glucose than fructose and, therefore, are very likely to crystallize quickly.

There is no difference in the taste or nutritional value of these two .

Honey can be restored to a liquid state by standing it in warm water for an hour or so.

Where I used to live most of my crop came from OSR oil seed rape , those huge acres of yellow , I had to quick to take it off as it would set hard in the frames in the hive as soon as I took it off I would bottle up as it was hard as a rock within a week.
Where I keep the bees now its mainly blackberry flowers and Himalayan balsam which even now the honey is runny and thats from last September.

Hope that explains a bit better ...

Spruce

 

Thanks Woo , when I arrived and opened the little wooden gate to the 5 acre water meadow , and I saw them all out and about , it really cheered me up so spring is on its way and lucky for the bees I have Gorse in full flower all along the Lane.

 

Great to hear the winter weather hasn't done them any harm

 

Great news about all 5 hives. It must be amazing to see them all flying about after the winter. Glad there's plenty of gorse in flower for them too.

 

Thank you Spruce, very very interesting and much appreciated

 

All wonderful, wonderful news Spruce. So glad their Park Lane Estate has excelled this Winter,
and a treat of Gorse to collect pollen from,
yummy,
Jens

 

Jen the verse you sent me


creamed honey

Her luster is strong and tender as innocent love, her skin white as snow. In the nights, I am taken under her arch to bathe in the untouched beauty and stare into her eyes brighter than the stars in the sky. The silkiness of her skin sends shivers down my spine while a kiss on her lips reveals the taste of creamed honey and innocence.

 

pass me a tissue please,
Jens

 

awww are you talking about me Sprucey baby

 

I haven't seen any yet either. I always look out for my first bee of the year when I'm in the garden pottering about. There's crocus, daffodils, heather and iris reticulata in flower here. Is there anything else I could plant that's good for them that flowers now? It would have to go in a container Spruce.

 

they are staying close to home mainly collecting water so not venturing far so all depends if you hives not far from you , they will collect nectar pollen from sarcoma but the temp need to be higher for then to risk it, as if they get chilled they wont make it back to the hive , I have mine positioned so they get sun from 12pm so I know the air temp will be the same as well , but honey bees are more sneaky at this time of year so maybe in just ones or two.