Did
you realize that honey is available in many different
varieties? When bees visit mostly one kind
of flower as they gather nectar, the honey they produce
has a unique taste, aroma and color from that particular
flower. Other honeys are delicious blends of floral
sources
Honey is a saturated solution of sugar
made by bees that collect nectar which is a liquid secretion
from flowers. The honeybees take this nectar back to
their hives where they add enzymes to it and place it
in wax cells called honeycombs. This is where it ripens
to form honey. During the ripening process, the enzymes
convert sucrose into glucose and fructose.
There are many different types of honey.
The differences are predicated on the floral source.
What most people don't know is that honey has the ability
to kill bacteria and heal wounds because it is very
acidic. In fact, many years ago, honey was frequently
used for medical purposes. However, with the advent
of antibiotics, medical professionals were under the
misconception that they were more effective than honey.
As antibiotics are proving to be less effective on certain
types of infections, doctors are now reconsidering honey
as a viable treatment solution.
Honey,
a pure, natural sweetener prepared by bees from nectar
collected from wild and cultivated flowers, was the
first sweetener known to man. It is frequently mentioned
in the Bible and depicted in cave paintings from prehistoric
times. Early civilizations, like the Greeks and Romans,
called honey, "the nectar of the gods". It
has been said that honey bees were not native to North
America; and that early settlers brought bee colonies
to the East Coast States. Native Americans termed them
the "white man's fly".
When bees have access to large areas of
one kind of flower, such as locust blossom, tulip poplar,
clover, basswood, goldenrod, or buckwheat, they produce
honey with a flavor and color typical of that particular
plant. Bees also make natural blends of honey from many
different flowers in areas where no one flower predominates.
Honeys are also blended during packing to produce a
pleasing taste combination that can bee duplicated throughout
the year.
To make honey from nectar, honey bees
evaporate much of the moisture and add compounds called
enzymes that change the composition of the nectar. Some
of the complex sugars are broken down into simpler ones;
and some of the sugar is converted into an edible acid
called gluconic acid. This process helps to give honey
it's distinctive taste. When the moisture content of
the honey is reduced to about 17%, the bees fill the
small cells of the comb and seal them with a white beeswax
capping. We can then
remove the sealed combs from the beehives to use them
on our table as comb honey or to have them extracted
for use as liquid honey. You need not worry about eating
the wax with the honey because beeswax is a completely
wholesome product.
Honey flavors range from mild and bland
to strong and pungent. The color ranges from black to
white. Pigment (color) begins in the nectar at the plant
and is transported back to the hive. It is intensified
by the natural process that the bees put it through
(reducing the moisture level, etc.). Darker colored
honey does not mean lesser quality; it means a different
source of nectar and a different taste of honey. By
trying different honeys, you can find the ones you enjoy
most.
Types
of honey are:
- Comb Honey
- Totally Raw Honey
- Liquid (extracted) Honey,
- Ganulated (creamed) Honey, and
- Chunk Honey.
Comb
Honey:
Comb honey is honey-filled
beeswax comb as stored directly by the bees.
Totally
Raw Honey:
Swarmbustin' Honey's Totally
Raw honey has been extracted with no further processing.
Depending on the
floral source and the length of time between extracting
and distributing, the honey may be liquid, but oft time
it will bee crystallized
Liquid
(extracted) Honey:
Liquid (extracted)
honey is prepared by cutting off the wax cappings and
whirling the comb in a honey extractor, where centrifugal
force moves the honey out of the cells. Swarmbustin'
Honey strains our liquid honey by running the honey
through a series of strainers, as opposed to ultra heating
and filtering.
Granulated
(creamy) Honey:
Granulated (creamy) honey
is made by blending one part finely granulated honey
with nine parts liquid honey. The mixture is stored
at about 57 degrees until it becomes firm.
Chuck
Honey:
Chunk honey is comb honey
in a jar with liquid honey poured around it.
Our
Bee
Pollen Is Now In Season
Besides pure
and raw honey, Swarmbustin’ Honey is proud
to offer fresh
bee pollen. Here at Swarmbustin’
Honey our bee
pollen is now in season and we are harvesting
bee pollen daily to ensure you the freshest
bee pollen available.
Visist our online
store to purchase our extremely fresh
bee pollen today!
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