Extracted honey can never hold a candle to honey in the comb. Imagine harvesting the choicest Zinfandel, Chianti, Syrah, and Merlot, then swirling them all together in a cavernous vat. The result is anemic red wine. The high notes and the low, the color, and the bouquet are all confused into an insipid muddle not […] Read more
Not a week goes by when someone doesn’t have a question about their “honey cone.” How should they store it or eat it or clean it? How can they sell it or save it or reuse it? I always wondered where this spelling variation came from. I used to think it was a simple typo […] Read more
When the sun slants golden through the barren trees and the north wind shivers the browning reeds, I begin thinking of honeycomb. I dream of next year’s harvest, the neatly packed cells oozing to the press of my knife. Nothing brings me closer to my bees than nature’s perfect fast food—preserved, packaged, portion controlled, and […] Read more
So gross! A few days ago, I received a message from a purchaser of honey. She had just acquired her very first sample of honey-in-the-comb from her local farmer’s market. Based on her description, I would say it was “chunk honey,” a piece of comb in a jar surrounded by extracted honey. When she got […] Read more
Far out! I’ve seen pink honey (from candy canes) and red honey (from maraschino cherry juice), but I’ve never seen aqua-green honey until now. Technically, of course, it’s not honey since it wasn’t made from nectar—or at least we don’t think it was made of nectar. Still, it’s a sight to behold. Judy Scher, a […] Read more
This morning a reader pointed out inconsistencies in my website. In one post I wrote, “Freeze honey combs before storing. The USDA recommends 24 hours at 0 degrees F.” In another post I write, “To kill the moth [eggs], you must monitor both time and temperature. For example, the Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium (MAAREC) […] Read more
For as long as mankind has pursued honey bees, he has been fascinated by the shape of comb cells. Since that first discovery, many types of intelligence have been ascribed to honey bees that might result in their extraordinary ability to build perfect hexagons. If you ever tried to draw a regular hexagon, one with […] Read more