The Bees Knees – Far South

Tags

honey, honey bees

Bringing RAW quality Honey to the Far South Peninsula Every tub, jar, squeeze bottle is traceable. Every batch is laboratory tested. Bulk sales : Some customers want to buy in bulk and fill their own containers, this is acceptable, however, we cannot give QA on the filling operation when we do not do the filling. We do offer QA on the product though and you have the benefit of our batch control and trace-ability system as it relates to the integrity of our product. Relatively few honey sellers realize that all honey must conform to the CPA. This is what distinguishes our HONEY!

Click here to order today

Honey Badger damage

Tags

environment, honey, Honey Badger, honey bee, nature

The Honey Badger is also known as a Ratel. Ratel is an Afrikaans word, possibly derived from the Middle Dutch word for rattle, honeycomb (either because of its cry or its taste for honey).  It is primarily a carnivorous species and has few natural predators because of its thick skin and ferocious defensive abilities.

Honey badgers favor bee honey, and will often search for beehives to get it, which earns them their name.

Honey Badger damage

these bees have relocated to an old tyre.

Honey Badger

Honey Badger range

Honey raw or pasteurized?

Tags

Bee, Botulism, clostridium botulinum, Corn syrup, food, health, honey, honeybee, nature, organic, Pasteurization, pasteurizationn, raw, raw honey, what is pasteurization

Raw Honey like the photograph above will always crystallize. Raw honey is the only food substance that does not spoil. The heating and filtering processes only make it look clear, and people mistakenly think the clearer the better. In other words it  is done for marketing purposes.

According to my sources, very young children or those with compromised immune systems should consume only pasteurized honey because there are a small number of cases each year where spores of Clostridium botulinum found in honey have been responsible for botulism poisoning. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, approximately 110 cases of botulism poisoning occur each year in the United States, mostly from improperly canned food, corn syrup, and honey. About 90% of these cases occur in children under six months old. There is normally a warning that you should not feed honey to children under 3 years old.

Honey should never be boiled, heated or cooked. It has been found that heated or cooked honey has a deformed molecular structure, and lacking the health benefits of raw honey.

What is pasteurization?

Pasteurization is a process that destroys microorganisms with heat. Different combinations of temperature and time can be used to pasteurize, depending on the substance. Most sources I found recommended heating the honey to 145° F (63° C) for 30 minutes. Some preferred 150° (65.5° C) for 30 minutes. One suggested that the temperature be brought to 170° F (77° C) momentarily. Most of the honey found on supermarket shelves has been pasteurized, unless it has been marked as raw.

Most of the sources I read claimed that honey is pasteurized to “kill bacteria and reduce crystallization.” Now we all know that honey is famed for its antibacterial properties, that it is still used in some areas to dress wounds, and that it can keep for years on end. So why, exactly, do we need to kill bacteria?

Related articles :

The healing powers of Honey

Honey and Cinnamon

Honeybee CCD update

Know your Honey

Honey, a sticky business

Raw Tomato sauce in a jiffy

Tags

Cook, food processor, garlic, home, home grown, honey, olive oil, organic, Pizza, raw, raw unfiltered Honey, recipe, Ripe homegrown tomatoes, sauce, sundried tomato, tomato, Tomato sauce

Invariably at this time of year I have a glut of tomatoes, so here is an idea to use up that extra surplus.

Ingredients :

Ripe homegrown tomatoes – 1 cup ( cut in half)

Sun dried homegrown tomatoes – 1/2 cup (softened in a little hot water)

Large clove homegrown garlic – (processed)

Glob of raw unfiltered Honey (from your hive)

pinch of salt.

Method : Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend.

This tomato sauce is delicious on Pizzas, toasted sandwiches, crackers, chip dip. In fact let your imagination be run wild as to how you use this tasty sauce. The sauce stores well in the refrigerator in a sealed container for up to 5 days.

This post was shared on Wild-crafting Wednesday 

Rendering raw Beeswax

Tags

aluminum containers, batiking, Bee, beeswax, candle, craft, double boiler, honey, honey comb, honeybee, organic, raw honey, rendering beeswax, Wax

Beeswax is another major hive product, though neither its uses nor its value are as widely known as those of honey.

From the raw honey comb above, the residue of wax that is left over looks very dirty and full of debris.

Place the wax in a double boiler, add  double the amount of water, and heat slowly until all the wax has melted. Turn off the heat and allow the wax to set. The wax will always set above the water.

When the wax is set, use a sharp knife to prize the wax out of the pot. Discard the water down an outside drain. The water will be very full of the impurities, but some will still remain in the  set wax. Scrape off as much as you can.

Place the wax again in the double boiler and melt on a low heat. Using an old stocking, place it over your mold stretched tightly. Tip: Use a lot of newspaper in this work, as the wax tends to get everywhere. NB. Never wash any pots or utensils you may have used in the the dishwasher.

When the wax is melted pour into your mold and the residues will remain behind.

Discard your old stocking.

Result rendered beeswax ready to use in crafts.

Beeswax is used industrially in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, polishes, and candles. Uses for beeswax on a small scale include:

	candle-making
	lost-wax casting of metals
	wax printing and batiking of cloth
	polishes for wood and leather
	strengthening and waterproofing thread for sewing
	treatment of cracked hooves of domestic animals
	making of comb foundation or wax starter for beehives.

Most methods of rendering wax use hot water to melt it. They are based on the fact that beeswax floats in water. A few words of caution are in order, however: Never use iron, zinc, brass, or copper containers for beeswax, as they discolor the wax. Use enameled aluminum containers. Be careful with melted beeswax, since it is highly flammable. Do not allow the beeswax-water mixture to boil vigorously. Boiling beeswax lowers its quality by making it more brittle. Blocks of rendered beeswax can be stored in cool, dry places for long periods without harm. They should be wrapped in paper or plastic. Never store beeswax near pesticides. Beeswax absorbs many such chemicals, and they can kill bees if this wax is used to make comb foundation.

Honey raw or pasteurized?

Tags

Bee, Botulism, clostridium botulinum, Corn syrup, food, health, honey, honeybee, nature, organic, Pasteurization, pasteurizationn, raw, raw honey, what is pasteurization

Raw Honey like the photograph above will always crystallize. Raw honey is the only food substance that does not spoil. The heating and filtering processes only make it look clear, and people mistakenly think the clearer the better. In other words it  is done for marketing purposes.

According to my sources, very young children or those with compromised immune systems should consume only pasteurized honey because there are a small number of cases each year where spores of Clostridium botulinum found in honey have been responsible for botulism poisoning. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, approximately 110 cases of botulism poisoning occur each year in the United States, mostly from improperly canned food, corn syrup, and honey. About 90% of these cases occur in children under six months old. There is normally a warning that you should not feed honey to children under 3 years old.

Honey should never be boiled, heated or cooked. It has been found that heated or cooked honey has a deformed molecular structure, and lacking the health benefits of raw honey.

What is pasteurization?

Pasteurization is a process that destroys microorganisms with heat. Different combinations of temperature and time can be used to pasteurize, depending on the substance. Most sources I found recommended heating the honey to 145° F (63° C) for 30 minutes. Some preferred 150° (65.5° C) for 30 minutes. One suggested that the temperature be brought to 170° F (77° C) momentarily. Most of the honey found on supermarket shelves has been pasteurized, unless it has been marked as raw.

Most of the sources I read claimed that honey is pasteurized to “kill bacteria and reduce crystallization.” Now we all know that honey is famed for its antibacterial properties, that it is still used in some areas to dress wounds, and that it can keep for years on end. So why, exactly, do we need to kill bacteria?

Related articles :

The healing powers of Honey

Honey and Cinnamon

Honeybee CCD update

Know your Honey

Honey, a sticky business

Honey, a sticky business

Tags

barley malt, Bee, chemical sweeteners, China, corn fructose syrup, food, health, honey, honey comb, honey in the comb, honey producers, honeybee, India, lead, nature, raw honey

Honey is a really sticky business.

“It’s no secret that the honey smuggling is being driven by money, the desire to save a couple of pennies a pound,” said Richard Adee, who is the Washington Legislative Chairman of the American Honey Producers Association.

Honey is being smuggled all over the world from China.

What’s wrong with honey from China? For one thing, it may contain lead, a toxin that accumulates in the body and can cause neurological damage, particularly in young children. The lead contamination has been traced back to the thousands of small beekeeping operations in China that use unlined, lead-soldered drums to collect and store honey before transferring it to processors.

Another favorite con among Chinese brokers was to mix sugar-water, malt sweeteners, corn or rice syrup, jaggery, barley malt sweetener or other additives with a bit of actual honey. In recent years, many shippers have eliminated the honey completely and just use thickened, colored, natural or chemical sweeteners labeled as honey.

Some Honey to look out for on the shelvesLittle Bee honey found on local South African shelves.

100% per Honey collected from Hilly areas in India.

A statement directly from their website : “honey stipulates pure product that does not allow for the addition of any other substances …this includes, but is not limited to, water or other sweeteners”.

Fiona delivers honey twice a week to various Pick n Pay outlets in Cape Town, and previously won runner-up in the Sarie Old Mutual Small Business Women of the Year award. Her honey is one of the purest you can find on the shelves.

Now for simply the best Honey

Now this is really sticky business.

Pure Raw Honey in the comb

Know your Honey

Tags

Bee, food, honey, honeybee, nature

More Than Honey: How Dwindling Bee Populations Impact Global Food Supply

Tags

Bee, environment, food, honey, honeybee, video

This film is fascinating. The most successful film in Switzerland for the year 2012, MORE THAN HONEY takes you inside the search for the missing honeybees.

More than Honey – Markus Imhoof (Official Trailer) from CIBER Science on Vimeo.

Bee humour

Tags

Bee, environment, garden, honey, honeybee, humour, nature