THE BEEKEEPERS CALENDAR - SESSION 6 - PRODUCE FROM THE HIVE - JULY 24th

History of Honey The dictionary informs us that honey is a pale yellow liquid, sweet, viscid and edible, collected and processed by bees from the nectar of flowers and is used by humans as a sweetener and a spread. Honey is composed of 17-20% water, 76-80% glucose, and fructose, pollen, wax, and mineral salts. Its composition and colour are dependent upon the type of flower that supplies the nectar. For example, alfalfa and clover produce a white honey, heather a reddish-brown, lavender an amber hue, and acacia and sainfoin clover, a straw or clear colour. Honey is also hygroscopic (as an ingredient it keeps things moist), antibacterial, and is antiseptic. It is claimed to have medical and cosmetic properties, but beyond dispute is the unique and special flavour it adds to cooking. The word honey comes from the Arabic hon, which became in old English honig morphing gradually to honey. The German word is still honeg. Honey has been found in the tombs of ancient Egypt, where a jar of still edible honey was discovered in the Tomb of Queen Tyis parents, it was thought to be 3,300 years old. On evidence of the oldest honey discovered still being edible, we must assume that as long as it is kept in air tight conditions, honey will never go off. Evidence has also been found of honey being used by the Egyptians, soaked on bandages, to form a plaster cast for broken bones. Considered by the Ancient Greeks to be sacred, and by the Hindus as a miracle food, honey was used as a sweetener in our diet long before the arrival of cane sugar or sugar beets. When the ancient Phoenician traders came to Britain to buy lead and tin they found the population consuming great quantities of honey and called Britain, the Isles of Honey. Mead is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented honey and water. How Nectar Becomes Honey Using immense heat, or when they have collected large quantities of nectar, bees flap their wings to refresh the atmosphere of the hive. Ventilation is part of the honey making process, as the nectar collected contains 50% moisture (water). It is ventilated to become gradually dehydrated, and then becomes honey when its water contents have dropped to 17%. The bees need some air circulation through the hive for cooling and the evaporation of moisture caused by the drying and curing of the nectar. The bees keep the inside temperature of the hive at 93 When the outside t emperature is in the high 80's it is F. difficult for the bees to keep the proper temperature without some air circulation through the hive. During such times, the hive entrance should be fully opened and the top cover should be kept ajar with a stick so some air is allowed to circulate through the hive. Otherwise heat stress will build up in the hive and may cause problems, bees clustering all over the outside of the hive are a sure indication that inside is too hot, and it is also preferable to place the hives in partial shade. Thermo hives are unique in allowing controlled ventilation through the bottom and sides of the hive but all other hives need close attention on this matter. Honeys Hygroscopic Properties Honey is Hygroscopic, if left exposed to the atmosphere it will absorb the moisture in the atmosphere, expanding, and when it is sufficiently diluted, begin to ferment. For this reason honey should always be stored in a sealed screw top jar. The hygroscopic characteristic can be used to stop bread drying out, and to keep cakes and biscuits moist. Basically a tablespoon of sugar can be swapped for a tablespoon of honey. This will introduce too much water, so the liquid content in the recipe will need reducing by about half a tablespoon. The honey in the bread will still be absorbing the moisture out of the atmosphere preventing the bread or cakes from drying out quickly. A good cooking tip is that when using honey in a recipe, dip the spoon in cooking oil first and the honey will just slip off the spoon. Cosmetic Properties Honey and beeswax have been used over the centuries in cosmetics. It is believed to tighten skin, remove wrinkles and is used as a slimming agent, as the honey causes rapid combustion when absorbed into the blood stream, and so helps burn off fats. Honey Face Pack Mix honey and bran to make a smooth paste that is spread generously on the face. Leave for 30 mins and wash off with warm water. Honey for Chapped Hands 1 white of an egg 1 tsp of glycerine 1 oz of honey barley flour to make a paste

Comb Honey Bees live in a construction of wax, the young bees are reared in hexagonal wax cells, and similarly the honey is stored in wax cells, which are capped with a very thin white wax to keep it safe. They can be persuaded, with some reluctance, to build their store of honey in comb section frame sets, which the beekeeper can then pack for sale, untouched by human hand, and not processed in any way. The problem for the beekeeper is that this store of honey is often unfinished, or blemished in some way making it unsaleable. Very few beekeepers are willing to go to the trouble of trying to produce comb honey, hence its high price, but its delicious aroma and taste are good compensation. Cut Comb Honey is a way round the problem; the comb for sale is cut from a large frame comb, omitting the damaged or unfinished comb. Crystalised and Runny Honey Laboratory analysis of honey shows:- Water 17.0% Levulux 39.0% Dextrose 34.0% Sucrose 1.0% Dextrine 0.5% Proteins 2.0% Wax 1.0% Plant Acids 0.5% Salts 1.0%, undetermined residues 4.0% The bees collect very watery nectar from the flowers that they carry in their honey sacs; during this time enzymes are added. In the hive the nectar is deposited in empty cells and the high temperature of the hive, plus the fanning action of the bees wings, reduced the water content to 17% when the cell containing the honey is sealed with a cap of white wax. In the high temperature of the hive (approximately 85 the honey will usually stay liquid. Taken out of the hive, the honey F) will slowly crystalise and become solid in the jar. The length of time it takes to solidify will depend on the type of nectar. Ivy and Oil seed rape honeys will crystallise in days, other honeys will take years. Solid honey in a jar can be converted back to liquid by gently warming the jar - with the lid tightly sealed - in a heated pot of water. However, it must not be heated over 100 or it begins to break down into a chemical th at has harmful properties. C Crystalised honey will often in time produce a frosting on the inside of the jar; this is quite normal and does not mean that the honey has deteriorated. Honey will ferment if the water content exceeds 20%, which is how mead is made. Fermenting honey has a very sweet smell, becomes more liquid and will overflow the pot. It has a slightly different but pleasant taste. It is also possible for honey to ferment as it crystalises. The sugars are absorbed into the crystals, and the water content of the remaining solution increases until it starts to ferment. Floral Honeys The taste and appearance of honey depends on the flowers to which the bees have been attracted. Lime tree honey is very light in colour whilst other tree flowers in the early spring create a very dark honey. The bees travel up to 3 km from the hive to gather nectars, making it impossible to control where the bees are working, hence most honeys are polyfloral. Specific floral honeys are produced where there are huge acres of one single blossom, though even then the odd bee might have flown a little bit further and brought home something else. Heather Honey has a very distinctive lingering aromatic flavour and sets as a thixatropic (extremely thick and viscous) jelly, and does not crystalise unless something like Ivy has been mixed with it. As the Heather honey flow is in late August, when few other flowers are available to the bees, it can be collected separately. Honey Tasting A honey sommelier is someone who has developed a highly discriminatory sense of taste that can detect the type of nectar from flowers the bees have collected. Like wine, the honey should be examined for colour then smelt for clues to its floral origin. Only a very small amount should be dribbled on the tip of the tongue using a stick or the professional tool (known as a honey dribbler) so as not to flood out the taste buds. What you taste at the tip of the tongue is known as the foretaste, and then when you swallow what you taste is the aftertaste. A highly rated honey is one that tastes good in the fore and after, as a surprising amount do not deliver pleasantness on both ends. Thirdly, there is the bouquet to consider. This is the lingering taste that remains quite a while after all the honey has been swallowed.

Generally aromatic honeys have the strongest bouquet, one of the prime ones being Heather, but a mediocre honey can often be greatly enhanced by strengthening its bouquet through the addition of herbs and condiments such as crushed chillies or vanilla sticks which are now classified as connoisseur honeys. Honeydew Honeydew is a sugar-rich sticky substance, secreted by aphids, caterpillars and some moths and scale insects as they feed on plant sap. It is collected by certain species of birds, wasps and honey bees, which process it into a dark, strong honey (honeydew honey). This is highly prized in parts of Europe and Asia for its reputed medicinal value. How to Distinguish Raw Honey from Processed Honey Scientifically, honey can be identified by an analysis of the pollen grains it contains. In fact, most cheap supermarket honeys are a blend of honey from countries where there is a heavy honey flow and wages are low (China, Mexico & Turkey), making it possible to sell at a much lower price than locally harvested British honey that now sells at a premium because it is scarce. Most honey that is sold in supermarkets is commercially processed before being packaged. This process will comprise heating honey to a temperature of at least 120 to make it more liquid, then F filtering it to remove substances such as pollen. Proponents of pure honey claim that valuable nutrients and enzymes are destroyed during the heating and processing, and the National Honey Board affirms this, saying "Enzymatic activity, ant microbial properties, microbial quality, colour and chemical composition are all influenced by heat and storage." Fortunately, there are a number of ways to distinguish processed from raw honey. 1 - Examine honey visually. Raw honey often has a cloudy appearance because of the pollen and other unfiltered material it contains, whereas processed honey is much clearer. In addition, when you turn a bottle of honey upside down, processed honey will flow freely and raw honey will flow more slowly because it is more thixotropic at room temperature. You can also buy lookup tables from Thorne to determine the type of honey you have according to colour shades. 2 - Read the label for clues on how the honey was processed, if at all. Labels on raw honey will typically tell you that the honey is unfiltered, unheated or unpasteurised. If none of these are mentioned, it might be processed honey. 3 - Contact the maker of a type of honey if you are unsure whether it is raw or processed. If they are honest, they will tell you what processes they use between the beehive and the bottle. If the honey has been heated to above 120 it is F, definitely not raw honey. Antibacterial and Antiseptic Medicinal Properties Honey is a super saturated sugar solution in which bacterial activity is reduced in the same was as sugar is used in jammaking. Honey thus becomes a sterile solution, and because it is it can be placed on wounds to sterilise, keeping out bacteria and stopping the wound from drying out. Runny honey poured on a minor burn or scald will ease the pain and significantly speed up the healing process and often not leave a skin blemish. It can make a sticky mess however, and you need to stay indoors so that the wound does not become an attraction for bees and other insects. Manuka Honey Probably the best known anti bacterial honey is Manuka, which comes from the Manuka tree only found in New Zealand, a relative of the Tea Tree. Behind this brand lies an interesting story. The taste is not that pleasant so a large processing company, Activon, which farmed this in NZ, financed ten Phd students to look at all aspects of their product to see if they could identify a unique selling point. One researcher discovered that Manuka had a 50-70% greater anti bacterial effect compared to all other honeys. The company leapt on this discovery and started to market it as a medicinal honey rather than a food, grading the different strains by anti bacterial strength. This is now regulated by the NZ industry and only they can use the manqu, much like specialist French wines. However, not all Manuka Honey is suitable for medical use, as antibacterial potency varies from batch-to-batch. Only laboratory testing gurantees a particular batch is of medical grade quality, and why rigorous standards are applied. The only honey that should be used for medical purposes is active UMF Manuka Honey. UMF is an acronym for Unique Manuka Factor and is followed by a number that indicates the antibacterial strength of the honey. It can only be applied to honey with a laboratory test result of UMF10 or higher. UMF Scales - [Link] UMF 5 to UMF9 - are very low activity levels UMF10 to UMF15 - are useful levels UMF16 - and over are superior levels with very high activity

Other Medicinal Uses Many claims both general and specific have been made for the healing properties of honey. Studies carried out on a group of children and recorded in the Swiss Bee Journal during 1921 reported that those whose diet contained added honey improved in general health, weight, blood count and energy. It is often used in the treatment of hay fever, as local honey may contain the same pollens that caused the hay fever, hence the small pollen portions consumed in the honey help the body build up a resistance to the allergen. Honey also has soporific (sleepiness) effects, try it in a hot milk drink at night. Even better, try warm honey and whisky added to a glass of hot milk. You can treat a cold by mixing hot Lemsip, honey and whisky and ingest at night before going to bed. For a sore throat, try 1 tbsp of runny honey, juice from a squeezed orange and 1 teaspoon of glycerine. Mix and take a spoonful every hour. Bee Escapes If you want to remove an entire super in one go for extraction, this can be achieved over several hours by means of a Bee Escape, which is a board that is placed between the super and the brood chamber. There are many versions of bee escapes such as: Porter, Canadian, Wedmore, Lozenge and Rhombus designs. They all perform the same function of funnelling the bees out of the bottom of the super relatively quickly without them being able to return. For an even speedier result, you can use a bee brush during mid day when its sunny, when the least amount of bees will be on the frames, as you remove them from the super one by one into another empty super. There are conflicting views on the bee brush method. Some say that on account of robber bees, it is safest to remove the honey in the evening or at some time when bees do not fly. Other methods use a fume board or a mechanical blower. When to Extract? Extracting honey from the hive is traditionally done in the first week of September, although weather and the type of forage available for your bees determine this. In some places, such as Finsbury Park, most of the honey is gathered from flowering trees in late spring and can be extracted soon after. This can provide a premium price for your honey as it will be the first fresh available batch of the year, when all other stocks of local honey have long run out, and people who visit gourmet shops are prepared pay a very high price for this early harvest! The honey is ready for harvesting when the honeycomb is capped. This is sometimes called ripeness, an easy test is to lift and gently shake the comb, if honey leeks out, then it is not ready. Harvesting honey before its ripe and capped may cause fermentation and the loss of all the honey collected! So be patient and make sure the comb is capped before you extract the honey. It is best to leave the capped honey with the bees for at least two weeks after the honey flow. The key to successful extraction is speed; extract the honey from the comb as soon as possible, while it is still warm from the hive. If the comb honey gets cold it will often crystalise and become difficult to work with, blocking filters etc. The honey should be extracted immediately while it is still warm. Set up your extraction area in the kitchen, bathroom or garage, making sure all windows are closed and are bee and wasp proof to stop robbing. Keep a bucket of warm water and a towel handy to easily rinse sticky hands, and also put newspaper sheets all around the area you will be doing the uncapping as some will definitely drop on the floor! Remember that you are preparing a foodstuff so modern hygiene rules must be followed, especially if you intend to sell any of the honey. Uncapping The first step in the extraction process is to break or remove all of the caps, this can be accomplished by several different methods. Traditional beekeepers often use a manually operated serrated uncapping knife (an electric one is also available). Beware, this is razor sharp on the cutting side and must be kept sharp at all times to be effective. The knife can also be heated to facilitate the cutting action. The frame is held at a slight vertical angle in an uncapping tray away from the body. The knife is then sawed upwards until all the cappings are removed. In a perfect world this would be all that is needed, but often the bees will have drawn the comb unevenly so that you have a hills and valleys effect on the surface. To make sure the valley cells will be extracted too,

you must use an uncapping fork to puncture all the cells so that they are open for extraction. However, we recommend an uncapping roller for new beekeepers, as it is a small tool, relatively safe as long as you wrap the spikes in a sponge when not in use, and the least messy of the uncapping tools. It also preserves most of the wax on the frame if you intend to melt that down for reuse or trade-in. If using the knife, the removed bits of wax, called uncappings, are placed in a glass or plastic bowl. These will hold approximately 10% of honey and can be slowly drained off later with the help of some heating. Automated uncapping machines in larger honey farms normally work by abrading the surface of the wax with moving chains or bristles and are a little messier then manual uncapping, but much less laborious. Before uncapping, some beekeepers (especially noncommercial) will remove and store any propolis, normally through scraping the frames down.

Using an Extractor - [Link] The extractor is most likely to be the most expensive piece of equipment required by any beekeeper. If you are going to sell even a small amount of your honey you must use a stainless steel or food grade polythene extractor. They come as either hand-cranked or motorised. The hand-cranked plastic ones are cheapest, and Thornes sell a budget all-inclusive Honey Processing kit for just 115 that is perfect for catering to one or two hives. The more frames that need processing then the more appealing a motorised one becomes, as it is very strenuous work. If unaffordable, you can hire one for a day from: Freightliners Farm, Hackney City Farm, Roots n Shoots or The Golden Company (Hackney). You will need a small van to pick up and return it in a day. Tangential or Radial? - [Link] Extractors also use different frame configurations, either tangential or radial. It is important when buying or hiring that you find out first if the model can take Langstroth deep frames (if using a Thermo hive) or whatever size of frame you are using. Some extractors also have a cage that allows the extraction of raw unsupported frames from Warre or Top Bar hives. Before use, it is advisable to rinse the equipment with warm water but NOT hot water at any stage of cleaning, as this would melt any particles of wax or propolis and permanently stain the polythene parts of the equipment. Ensure everything is absolutely dry before extracting. Have ready access to warm water and a cloth or sponge to wipe up any minor spillage as this will help to make the job less sticky. The uncapped frames are placed in the honey extractor; ensure the frames are clear of the honey level in the floor of the extractor and that the cage is evenly-balanced, then start turning them in the cage with the crank or motor. Slowly at first, then observe the honey starting to be thrown out of the combs by centrifugal force. Gradually increase the crank speed and continue to spin for 2-3 minutes, increasing to maximum speed on the electric machine, or approximately one hundred turns on a manual machine, so that most of the honey is extracted. Care must be taken to ensure that all frames are the correct way round for ease of flow, because in the hive the cells are angled slightly upwards to prevent the honey flowing out, the correct way is with lugs out. When finished replace the frames and super back in the hive for the bees to clean and refill (if extracting spring flow), or if extracting summer flow, store the super for next year.

Sieving & Storing When the bottom of the extractor is full, open the stopcock and let the honey flow into storage buckets as you need to get everything extracted as quickly as possible (especially if you are hiring just for the day). If you own an extractor, then it can be strained directly, using a sieve, to strain out the larger wax pieces into a storage bucket. A fine strainer is then used to trap the smaller wax pieces. Using a double strainer can combine these operations, and we recommend this approach as it gives excellent results, although it obviously takes longer to strain. Other household items can be substituted for part of the process as kitchen strainers and womens nylon stockings can serve as good honey filters (clean ones, of course). The resulting honey is held in a larger settling tank or ripener. The honey should be left to ripen for 4 days then any air bubbles skimmed off the top surface with a flat knife blade, as consumers do not like seeing them in bottled honey. Finally, the stopcock/spigot from the settling tank is opened and the honey transferred into jars and bottles. Thornes again sell all the paraphernalia required for bottling. If you are intending to sell to the public, your label must state the date it was bottled, the area it originates from and the weight of the product. Jars should be wiped clean of any stickiness or residue before labelling then dried. The final label is a seal, which is fixed beneath the main jar label to indicate it has not been opened since leaving the production room. Any honey that can't be harvested, which includes remnants left on the frames after extraction, can be placed outside and can be reclaimed by the bees (or wasps!). This must be done early in the morning or late in the evening as the bees will aggressively harvest such a rich source. Care must be taken so that this is done at a time when food is not scarce, otherwise bees from differing colonies will fight over the honey. Extracted combs should be stored in a sealed place and fumigated for wax moths once every ten days until freezing weather sets in. It does the combs good to freeze in winter, as cold will destroy the larva of the moth. Any tools or utensils that are used with melted wax cannot be used for anything else; as the wax creates a thin film over everything it touches. When all extracting is completed, cleaning the equipment is a necessity. This is best done either in the bathroom or outside near a drain. The extractor has to be dismantled and thoroughly cleaned in warm water, not hot water, then rinsed and dried. It is best to wash down all equipment outside with a hose or pressure washer if you have one. Remember, the next beekeeper to use the equipment wishes to receive it in the condition that you would wish to find it when you hire it, so please be courteous about this. If there is no way of obtaining an extractor, a good way to use or sell the honeycomb is by cutting it into rectangles either with a knife or comb cutter that cuts the comb to the exact size to fit into cut-comb containers (special plastic containers with clear top lids). Extraction Using a Microwave If the honey is in new, white combs, you can cut the comb into small pieces, mash it up, and put it into micro-wave proof containers, zap it for two minutes at a time, stir, watch closely so the wax doesn't overheat (it can burn!) and scoop off the wax that comes to the surface. The same thing can be done on the stove, but be careful not to overheat the bottom, and not to let the stuff get hot enough to catch the wax on fire, as this can be very dangerous. Use tough, disposable plastic food containers so you don't have to wash up afterwards. When the honey is pretty warm, it can be strained through a good quality, fine-mesh nylon food straining cloth. Cool the warm honey down quickly (put your final, strained jars into a cold water bath) and the honey will be fine. Top-Bar Hives Top bar hives come in horizontal (African trough) and vertical (the Warr hive) designs. Trough hives allow for continuous harvesting through the season, whilst Warr hives should only be harvested at the end of the season. Once the combs are removed from the hive, they can be processed in several ways: encase them in a cage and use a centrifugal extractor as with framed combs, preserve as-is to be consumed in comb form and cutting out, crushing the combs, straining the honey, and processing the beeswax. A History of Mead Mead is probably the oldest alcoholic drink known, with references dating back 12,000 years ago, and the word for mead occurs in nearly all Indo-European languages. Pollio Romulus wrote to Julius Caesar, when over 100 years old, that he enjoyed a full sex life, which he attributed to drinking copious amounts of Welsh Mead! The Vikings were used to consuming at least half a dozen horns of mead during a meal. The word honeymoon comes from the practice of drinking mead during the month-long celebrations that followed high-class weddings. It was certainly very popular in Anglo-Saxon times and in

polite society right up to the end of the 17th century. Being one of the main ingredients of mead, honey was in high demand and beekeepers, although leading a somewhat remote life, were well respected. Medieval beekeepers did not breed bees in the modern sense of the word, their bees were wild bees living in the large forests, slightly domesticated by beekeepers through providing ideal nesting places and guiding a new colony to these. The beekeeper would cut off the top of a suitable tree near the edge of a forest or clearing. The remaining trunk had to be high enough to offer some protection from bears and low enough for the beekeeper to reach the bees without too much trouble. He would then carve a hole big enough for a colony to fit or use a natural cavity in the trunk and position it so the sun could shine on the trunk most of the day, and thus keep it warm. In the course of the 12th to 14th century, several generations spent their entire working life on the destruction of forests and creation of farmable land, a process that reduced the size of the land useable for beekeeping. The consequence was a steady increase in the price of honey and wax, and following that, an increase in the price of mead. The slow decline of mead as the national drink can be traced back to the Norman Conquest, for in the wake of the invasion came the first wine traders. The dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII then put an end to monastic brewing, and finally, in the 18th century sugar replaced honey. As mead became more and more expensive, beer and wine became more popular. Beer was easy enough and inexpensive to brew - and would keep fresh for much longer than mead hence it soon became the most popular drink in Europe. Making Mead The type of honey used determines the flavour and bouquet of the finished product. Light coloured honey is best for making dry light meads with subtle flavours, whilst dark honeys were used for strong flavoured sweet meads. Flavours in honey masked by the sweetness become more noticeable when the sugar is fermented and the quantity of the honey determines the alcoholic strength and final sweetness. Mead is made by adding yeast to the honey dissolved in water. During fermentation the yeast feeds on the sugar in the honey and splits it into carbon dioxide and alcohol, then the carbon dioxide gas bubbles away leaving the alcohol behind (fortunately!). Yeast also needs nutrients and acids added - which are lacking in honey - to keep it growing and working. Tannin is also needed to give the mead astringency and to assist clarification. During fermentation the liquor is susceptible to spoilage by microorganisms, always present in the air, the most important of which are vinegar bacteria that convert alcohol into acetic acid (vinegar). To avoid competing with Sarsons Vinegar, utensils must be sterilised and air must be excluded during fermentation using an airlock. Ingredients: (ingredients obtained from any wine making supplier) The Medieval Beekeepers - Pieter Brueghel 3 - 3 1/2 lb. honey 1/2 oz. citric acid. 1/2 tsp. tannin (or 1/2 cup strong black tea). 2 tsp. yeast nutrient. Wine yeast (Maury yeast has been specially selected for mead but a General Purpose Yeast will be fine). 2 tsp. yeast nutrient & 1/4 tsp. yeast extract (e.g. Marmite) to provide vitamin B. Water to 1 gal. (S.G. approx. 1.100 = potential alcohol 13.4%) Warm the honey in three times its own volume of water, stir to dissolve (avoid burning the honey), bring just to the boil and simmer for a couple of minutes, removing the scum. Do not boil fast as many desirable substances will be evaporated, causing loss of flavour and bouquet. When cool, transfer to a 1 gallon glass jar (demijohn), previously well rinsed with hot water. Bring the remaining water to the boil and, when cool, add the yeast, nutrient, tannin and acid to the dissolved honey. Fit an air lock (or plug the neck of the jar with cotton wool) and leave in a warm place. When fermentation is complete (when there are no more bubbles and it has begun to clear), siphon using a length of plastic tubing (or carefully decant) the mead into a clean jar leaving the sediment behind. When another deposit has formed, siphon again. When it no longer leaves sediment and is clear, bottle. If necessary, filter or add wine finings.

The above recipe should produce a dry mead containing about 13% alcohol. If the finished mead tastes rather sweet, delay bottling until you are sure fermentation has finished to avoid burst bottles. A medium mead would need about 4 lb. honey and a sweet (or sack) mead 4-1/2 lb. Sultanas give extra flavour, body and smoothness to mead and nourish the yeast. Rinse 12 oz. sultanas in warm water and chop or mince. Ferment on the pulp, stir daily, and strain after 10 days. Your mead will probably be drinkable after a year. Having made mead, dont be impatient to drink it - there is no comparison between young mead and the matured article. Brother Adam of Buckfast Abbey recommended maturing mead in sound oak casks for a full seven years before bottling. Cappings are often used to make mead by placing them in a suitable container and adding cold water. Stir to dissolve the honey, allow to stand a while and then strain. Take a hydrometer reading and adjust with honey or water to give the required starting gravity (S.G.). More honey will increase the specific gravity, and more water will lower it. Follow the P. 7 recipe. 2 lb. honey in 1 gal. gives S.G. 1.060, potential alcohol 7.8%. 3 lb. honey in 1 gal. gives S.G. 1.090, potential alcohol 12%. 4 lb. honey in 1 gal. gives S.G. 1.120, potential alcohol 16.3%. A meads alcoholic content may range from that of a mild ale to that of a strong wine. It can be still, carbonated, or sparkling; and can be dry, semi-sweet, or sweet. It can be brewed with spices, fruits, or grain mash, and can also be flavoured with hops to produce a bitter, beer-like flavour. It can be distilled to a brandy or liqueur strength e.g. Polish Krupnik - a sweet Polish liqueur. By adding other ingredients to the fermentation process many other mead derivatives have been created around the world. Great mead is any mead aged several years, which distinguishes it from short mead. Blended varieties of mead may be known by either style represented. For instance, mead made with cinnamon and apples may be referred to as either a cinnamon cyser or an apple metheglin. Here are some of the more common mead variations you may come across: Acerglyn - Honey and maple syrup. Morat - Blends honey and mulberries. Black Mead Honey and blackcurrants. Braggot - Welsh origin (also called bracket or brackett). Originally brewed with honey and hops, later with honey and malt - with or without hops added. Bochet - Honey is caramelised or burned separately before adding the water. Gives toffee, chocolate & marshmallow flavours. Capsicumel - Flavoured with chile peppers. Cyser - A blend of honey and apple juice. Hippocras - honey, grapes, and spices. Hydromel - Means "water-honey" in Greek and is also the French name for mead. (hidromiel: Spanish, idromele: Italian, hidromel: Portuguese). It is also used as a name for a very light or low-alcohol mead. Melomel, mulsum - A mead that contains fruit (such as raspberry, blackberry or strawberry) and is also used as a means of food preservation, keeping summer produce for the winter. Depending on the fruit-base used, certain melomels may also be known by more specific names (see cyser, pyment, morat for examples) Metheglin - A mead that also contains spices (such as cloves, cinnamon or nutmeg), or herbs (such as oregano, Sack mead - Mead made with more copious amounts of honey than usual. The finished product retains an extremely high specific gravity and elevated levels of sweetness. Short mead - Also called "quick mead", a type of mead recipe that is meant to age quickly, for immediate consumption. Because of the techniques used in its creation, short mead shares some qualities found in cider (or even light ale): primarily that it is effervescent, and often has a cidery taste. It can also be champagne-like. Show mead - A term that has come to mean "plain" mead. One that has honey and water as a base, with no fruits, spices or extra flavourings. Since honey alone often does Mulsum - This is not true mead, but is unfermented honey blended with a high-alcohol wine. Omphacomel - mead and the juice of unripe grapes (verjuice). This makes it a variety of pyment. Oxymel - Blends honey with wine vinegar. Pyment, pyment-claree - Blends honey and red or white grapes. Pyment made with white grape juice is sometimes called "white mead." Rhodomel - Honey, rose hips, petals or rose attar (a rose petal distillate) and water.

hops, or even lavender or chamomile). Some of the most common metheglins are ginger, tea, orange peel, nutmeg, coriander, cinnamon, cloves or vanilla. Its name indicates that many metheglins were originally employed as folk medicines. Mulled mead is a popular drink at Christmas, where mead is flavoured with spices (and sometimes various fruits) and warmed, traditionally by having a hot poker plunged into it.

not provide enough nourishment for the yeast to carry on its lifecycle, a mead that is devoid of fruit, etc. will sometimes require a special yeast nutrient and other enzymes to produce an acceptable finished product. Scottish Heather mead - Mead with citrus, tannin and heather honey. White mead - A mead that is coloured white, either from herbs or fruit used, or sometimes egg whites.

Beeswax Facts A compound of carbon and hydrogen, beeswax is a natural wax produced in the hive only by worker bees that have four pairs of wax-producing mirror glands on the inner sides of their abdomens. It has a very stable chemical make-up and its properties remain unspoilt by time. It is resistant to hydrolysis and natural oxidisation and is completely insoluble in water. Apart from the larvae of the wax moth, no animal has the digestive acids and juices to break it down. To produce their wax, bees must consume about eight times as much honey by mass. It is estimated that bees fly 150,000 miles, roughly six times around the earth, to yield one pound of beeswax (530,000 km/kg). Foundation Beeswax is used to build hexagonal cells with three-faced bases. Normal honeycomb comes in two sizes: worker comb has cells 5 mm in diameter, and drone comb has cells 6 mm across. Cells are drawn out to a depth of approximately 15 mm from the base. Both sizes of cells are used for food storage. The hexagonal design gives honeycomb unusual strength and a great load-bearing capacity. A piece of wax comb built under natural conditions and weighing 12 ounces will hold about four pounds of honey. The diagram shows how three of the corners of cells on one side of the comb form the centres of the cells on the other side, which also allows the centre point of each cell on both sides to be recessed. Bright light or queenlessness will inhibit a cluster from making comb, although it does not prevent them from making wax if they are full of honey. All European bee races accept foundation wax with 800 cells/dm2, which is the perfect number for bees with 5.37mm cells. The actual number of cells per dm2 varies slightly with different models of foundation makers. Bees readily accept variations in size within certain limits: if they are too small, they are rejected, and if too big, the brood is likely to be predominantly male. A plentiful season stimulates wax secretion, whilst during hard times it ceases altogether. However, bees can seal their honey and brood cells even without an available honey flow by reusing wax from existing comb. Provided that conditions are right, comb construction will start at one attachment point and the comb will be built out latitudinaly in all directions from this point, producing a very evenly constructed two-sided comb. Sometimes more than one starting point will be used, and as these points are not accurately measured out from each other in cell widths, adjustments have to be made in the cell pattern where the resulting pieces of comb meet. These irregular cells are called transition cells. Making Foundation The inventor of foundation was Johannes Mehring who invented a press to impress wax wafers with indentations like the bottom of cells in 1857. Today the process is still the same. A laminated sheet of wax is run through embossed rollers surfaced with hexagonal cell mould to produce a continuous ribbon of foundation. While rotating, the rollers are lubricated by a series of small jets of soapy water. The ribbon of foundation is cut to size and stacked automatically at the end of the production line. Cappings wax, probably because it is too pure, results in brittle much less pliable foundation than when made with combs, quite independent of manufacturing techniques. Wax manufacturers favour comb wax but generally use a judicious mix of both in order to unite strength and pliability. There are two important reasons for introducing frames of foundation wax every two years. 1. The annual replacement of a number of frames ensures the continuing health of the colony. Old frames are an ideal spawning ground for diseases caused by spores and fungi. 2. Replacing frames with foundation wax also helps reduce swarming. When nurse bees have a shortage of young larvae to look after, they accumulate fat, and, if there are no new frames to work on, this can trigger swarming fever.

Colour and Age The colour of beeswax is nearly white, and then darkens rapidly as it ages. It becomes progressively yellow or brown by the incorporation of pollen, oils, and propolis, and often turns to almost black. Wax from brood comb tends to be darker than wax from honeycomb. As impurities accumulate more quickly in the brood comb, the wax has to be rendered before further use, and the leftovers are called slumgum. Darker comb yields much less wax than lighter-coloured comb because darker, older comb has been used repeatedly for brood, so contains cocoons and waste that absorbs the wax, making it impossible to obtain all the wax during extraction. However, these additions add strength to the comb. Very little, or no, wax is added when the comb is built to contain brood, but as soon as any of the brood combs are expanded at the top for the storage of honey, the extra length of the cells is made of pure new white wax. To clean the wax it is melted in a saucepan of hot water. This is best done in a double jacket saucepan to prevent the highly flammable beeswax from catching fire, but it is a safer process using an electric ring. Let the wax cool and solidify, and all the dross will have collected in a layer between the wax and the water. The dross can be scraped off leaving pure beeswax. Have a wet cloth handy to extinguish any flame. As with petroleum waxes, it may also be softened by dilution with vegetable oil to make it more workable at room temperature. Making Polish Beeswax polish is made by putting equal amounts of beeswax and turpentine in a container and sealing it with a lid to stop evaporation. Leave it in a warm place where the wax will dissolve into the turpentine. It may take a few days to do this and it can be speeded up by melting the wax in a metal container, as described above, removing it well away from the heat source, and then pouring in the turpentine and stirring. Let it cool but not set and then pour it into the final container or tins and leave it to set. A good container is a wide jam jar but any container will do so long as you can enclose it with a lid, otherwise the turpentine will evaporate. Only use real turpentine and not turpentine substitute. Candle Science Beeswax candle wax is made from the wax bees use in their hives. It can be bought in several forms including flat & honeycomb sheets, blocks, chunks and pearls. Sheets can be bought pre-coloured, while the chunks, blocks and pearls tend to come in their natural colour. Beeswax is naturally aromatic, so it is rare that one would add fragrance. The wax is quite sticky, and has a low melting point, so if you are making candles from sheets, the heat from your hand will make the wax pliable and easy to roll. If you are using pure beeswax in candle moulds or containers, you should consider adding a candle hardener and also be prepared to top up your moulds since the wax tends to shrink quite a bit when cooling. Beeswax tends to be more expensive than paraffin wax, and you will often get a lot of variation in colour and melting point between waxes. Beeswax Candles and God Beeswax candles are preferred in most churches because they burn cleanly, with little or no wax dripping down the sides and little visible smoke. The burning characteristics of beeswax candles differ from those of paraffin wax too. A beeswax candle flame has a "warmer," more yellow colour than that of paraffin, and the colour of the flame may vary depending on the season in which the wax was harvested. Beeswax candles have been the main form of illumination in building interiors for hundreds of years. It is also prescribed as the material for the Paschal candle ("Easter Candle") and is recommended for other candles used in the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church. Solar Extractors The temperature only needs to rises above 68 - 70 to render beeswax sufficiently fluid to be C melted successfully in a solar extractor. A solar wax extractor produces top quality wax, but this method only yields 75% with old combs because when they are rendered, the mass of cocoon waste from successive brood acts as a sponge and soaks up the wax, thus reducing its flow. Another drawback the solar extractor base has to be turned regularly towards the sun - and in cloudy weather or weak sunlight there is no yield at all. This method is not very efficient for old comb and is mainly used for melting down cappings or new comb.

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DIY Solar Tub Melter This can assembled in 10 minutes and produces 184 Melting F temperature on a 62 day. If the paper towel hangs over the F side of the container, wax will sometimes wick off, and drop to the bottom of the chest. This really is no problem, for the wax can be lifted off the bottom when cooled. You can use metal coffee cans rather than a plastic tub. Materials A - Styrofoam box (can be obtained free from a fish vendor) B - Piece of window glass or polycarbonate C - Piece of Aluminium Foil D - Length of Duct Tape E - Instant Read Thermometer DIY Plastic Trough Melter Building a solar oven that will have the ability to reach 220 within 2 hours of direct sunlight is r elatively easy. Get a midF sized clear plastic storage container with a clear lid, which will be the body of the wax melter itself. The cappings you want to melt are put in a paint roller tray. Cut a one-inch square hole in the deepest part and the melted wax all runs down to the bottom and drips through this hole. To catch the wax, put a large deep tray under the paint tray, but put some fine wire mesh (fly wire type material) over this container. The wax is strained as it drips through the mesh. As well as that, I've found that much of the dark impurities in the wax stays in the bottom of the paint tray and doesn't even make it to the mesh, so the melted wax is quite clean and nice looking. As it's not as efficient as a double glazed insulated solar wax model, it needs temperatures in the high 20's (80's in C F) order to work, but it can melt a lot of wax on a hot day. Put some newspaper in the bottom of the main body to catch any splashes of honey or wax, then you can still use it for storage when not being used to melt wax. Other Types of Solar Extractors The lid or cover for a solar melter can be constructed using 1" by 4" clear board, on edge, about three-eight's inch larger in inside dimensions than the outside dimensions of the box, so it will be easy to remove. For glazing use Plexiglas - it is far lighter and sturdier than glass. To make the double glazing, lay the top down on a flat surface, making sure it is square, and nail on " x 3/4" square moulding on the bottom. Then a piece of Plexiglas is cut to fit, laid on the moulding, and another round of moulding fitted with small screws, then another piece of Plexiglas, then another round of moulding. When inverted, the top will fit over the box to a depth of about an inch and a half, which is sufficient for strength and security, and the double glazing of Plexiglas with a " air gap has a good insulation factor. You can fit a grab handle in the centre of the back of the lid, just to make it easier to manoeuvre. To use the solar oven, merely raise the back, lift up the prop, set the box down so the prop is in the slot, and it is automatically raised to about 40 degrees and ready for use. Internal temperatures well above the melting point of beeswax, about 145 F, are maintained on warm su nny days. In very hot weather, the rendered wax should be removed from the extractor regularly, because the wax will darken if subjected to high temperatures for long periods. The solar wax extractor should be placed in a protected location on the south side of a building, or at least where it is protected against the prevailing winds that lower the temperature in the extractor. Research has shown that extractor efficiency can be improved by using a glass cover consisting of two panes of double-strength glass about 1/4 inch apart and by placing a piece of fibreboard insulation under the melting pan. This design helps to retain the absorbed heat. The outside of the box should be painted black and the inside, white. The size of the extractor needed depends on the amount of wax to be rendered. An extractor that is 2 feet wide and 3 feet long will handle all of the wax from up to sixty hives of bees. The solar extractor is highly attractive to robber bees due to the odours given off by the warm honey and wax. It should be kept tightly closed except when being loaded or when the filled collecting pan is being removed. The solar extractor eliminates the need to render old combs and cappings by melting the wax in containers of boiling water and then straining the mixtures through layers of cloth. In addition to being time consuming and messy, this method poses a continual fire hazard because the wax may boil over and run down to the heat source below. Placing the extractor on wheels allows it to be moved to face into the sun.

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Keeping the Reflector Glass Clean The glass or plexiglass cover of a solar oven will become dirty over time, which reduces the effectiveness or solar heat transmission by a considerable margin. Both the top and bottom surfaces of the top, be they Plexiglas or glass, should be cleaned and polished with a good automotive cleaner wax, which is as effective as plexiglass polish and less than half the cost. The auto cleaner/wax will won't leave any moisture residue to fog up the glass for a couple of days, and as cleaning the glass is a weekly event when in constant use, this is an important consideration. Extraction Using Boiling Water or Steam This is the most popular commercial method. Equipment must be made of aluminium, copper, or stainless steel. Zinc, pewter, tinplate and consequently galvanised iron are not recommended as they darken wax. The combs are placed in a jute sack that then needs to be tied tightly. The sack is dropped into a large cooking pot or clothes boiler filled with water. It needs to be weighted to make sure it sinks, then brought to the boil. As wax is lighter than water, it will filter through the jute and rise to the surface. Once the combs have all melted, turn off the heat and leave the pot to cool down. The wax solidifies as it cools, forming a block on the surface of the water. Lastly, dispose of any waste left in the sack. Purest wax Regardless of the system used, the recuperated wax will be far from pure, containing a large quantity of water and numerous impurities. To obtain purest quality beeswax, the mixture must be kept warm for as long as possible whilst decanting, and is done commercially using a heated-decanting tank. A makeshift solution is a bucket placed in a sawdustfilled box covered with a thick lid. Once the wax has settled and completely cooled, the block is ready to take out of the mould. Due to the difference in density between wax and water, the wax will rise to the surface of the water and any impurities will be trapped below it. Once the wax hardens, these can be scraped off the underside of the block. If the beeswax cools too quickly, a large quantity of these impurities will be trapped inside the wax as the block sets and it will have to be re-rendered Beeswax Products Lost-wax casting of metals, practised by the ancient Greeks and Romans, involved coating a wax model with plaster, melting the wax out of the resulting mould and filling the space with molten metal. The Egyptians used it in shipbuilding, the Romans used it as a waterproofing agent, and the English used it in bow making. In the Middle Ages beeswax was considered valuable enough to become a form of currency. The Romans also sent messages on hinged pairs of wooden writing tablets coated with beeswax, the message being written into the smooth wax surface using a stylus. After it had been read the message could be erased, and a reply written and returned. Beeswax is used commercially to make fine candles, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, in polishing materials (particularly shoe polish and furniture polish) and as a component of modelling waxes. The wax can be dissolved in turpentine and then used as a furniture finish, sometimes blended with linseed or tung oil. It is commonly used during the assembly of pool tables to fill the screw holes and the seams between the slates. It is also used as a coating for cheese, to protect the food as it ages. While some cheesemakers have replaced it with plastic, many still use beeswax in order to avoid any unpleasant flavours that may result from plastic. Squeezebox makers use beeswax as an adhesive, when blended with pine rosin, to attach reed plates to the structure inside a squeezebox. It is also used by percussionists to create a desired surface on tambourines for thumb rolls. Beeswax is used in Eastern Europe in egg decoration for writing on batik eggs (as in pysanky) and for making beaded eggs. In the Far East, batik is used as a barrier process to build up layers of colours on material prints.

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As a skin care product a German study found beeswax to be superior to similar "barrier creams" (usually mineral oil based creams, such as petroleum jelly), when used according to its protocol. Beeswax is also an ingredient in moustache wax, as well as hair pomades. It was used in the manufacturing of the cylinders used by the earliest phonographs. Beeswax has also been used as a primary constituent of bullet lubricant since the earliest days of rifleman when it was mixed with Tallow. It is now mixed with Moly grease or Lubrizol Alox and also used to make Cutler's resin. Pollen The term pollen source is often used in the context of beekeeping and refers to flowering plants as a source of pollen for bees or other insects. Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes (sperm cells). Insect-loving plants produce pollen that is relatively heavy, sticky and protein-rich, for dispersal by insect pollinators attracted to their flowers. Bees collect pollen as a protein source to raise their brood. For the plant, the polliniser, this can be an important mechanism for sexual reproduction, as the pollinator distributes its pollen. Few flowering plants self-pollinate; some can provide their own pollen (self-fertile), but require a pollinator to move the pollen; others are dependent on cross-pollination from a genetically different source of viable pollen, through the activity of pollinators. One of the main pollinators that assist in cross-pollination is honeybees. Dry pollen, is a food source for bees that contains 35% protein (half are free-form amino acids which can be assimilated immediately by the body without being broken down), 5% fat, 1-7% starch, 3% minerals, 4% moisture, A/B/C/E vitamins and 40% natural sugars. The remainder is made up of trace elements many which have still not been identified today. The protein source needed for rearing one worker bee from larval to adult stage requires approximately 120-145 mg of pollen. An average bee colony will collect about 20-57 kg (44-125 pounds) of pollen a year. By natural instinct, bees will collect only the best entomophily pollen grains that are higher in nutritional value. The pollen varies in colour due to the variety of flowers visited by the bees and this is done purposely to ensure a wide and varying range of proteins. The pollen basket or corbicula is part of the tibia on the hind legs of honey bees. A honey bee moistens the forelegs with a protruding tongue and brushes the pollen that has collected on head, body and forward appendages to the hind legs. The pollen is transferred to the pollen comb on the hind legs and then combed, pressed, compacted, and transferred to the corbicula on the outside surface of the tibia of the hind legs. A single hair functions as a pin that secures the middle of the pollen load. It takes an individual worker bee from three to eighteen minutes to complete a pollen load and return to the hive. A bee collects an average pollen load of 11-29 mg. It takes 3-18 minutes to collect the load and this will be done around 8 times per day. How to Collect Bee Pollen This is done by fitting a pollen trap to the entrance of the hive (there are different designs for different hives including front, side and bottom traps). When the worker bees bring back pollen to feed the brood, queen and for storage, they enter the pollen trap and as they makes their way down to the bottom of the hive, about 1/3 of the pollen on their legs falls off into the drawer of the trap. The extraction is done by forcing the bee to squeeze through a series of tight holes or "grids" of wire at the front section of the entrance, in order to access the brood box. Please note that all pollen traps are designed NOT to take more bee pollen than necessary. After all, it would be stupid for a beekeeper to take all the nutrients from their own bees! Once the trap is fitted, it usually takes a couple of days for the drawer of the trap to fill. Since bee pollen is extremely perishable with heat, it is vital to collect the bee pollen every couple of days, or daily if possible. Either collect it in the early morning, before the bees start flying, or late in the day, after they are back in their hive to rest for the night. Open each drawer, remove the pollen and pour it into a plastic bucket, it should be immediately taken to a freezer for storage. If you are too far away from your hives for this to be feasible then do not fit a pollen trap at all.

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When to collect pollen? Trapping should be done only during high pollen flows of one-quarter pound per day minimum, and traps or grids should be removed at all other times. Pollen should be removed from the trap often (daily during heavy pollen flows) and cared for properly. During major nectar flows, pollen trapping is unprofitable, and the grid slows down active flight, which reduces honey production. Health Benefits Pollen is usually eaten at breakfast time with a cereal, as it has no taste itself. As it is a complete food (i.e. one that humans can live on with no additional food sources required), it is also used for body cleansing diets, where only pollen and water are consumed for a specified number of days. It can cause the same reaction as allergies do, so it is best to try a little before purchasing. Weight for weight, bee pollen contains more protein than other familiar sources such as meat, fish, eggs and dairy products. It has been found to have regenerative powers for the human body though the presence of natural steroids (hormones), that appears to stimulate sluggish glands and act as a supplement to substitute for endocrine deficiencies. However, it is used far more widely these days as an antidote to hayfever. Many allergies, such as asthma or hayfever, are caused by pollen introduced into the respiratory system. Research has shown that there is a difference between inhaled pollen and bee pollen. Breathing in the anemophious pollens that are carried by the wind causes allergies. To help build a natural form of resistance, your body requires a supply of entomophious pollens (bee pollen) that can act as a barrier or shield against the windborne inhaled pollens responsible for allergic reactions. Propolis When a tree (and some plants) is wounded it secretes resin around the wound as the first stage of the healing process. Humans have also learnt to derive great benefit from these powerful plant chemicals. There are thousands of examples including: aspirin (from willow trees), penicillin (from a fungus), caffeine (from coffee) and menthol (from mint plants). Propolis is a resinous mixture that honey bees collect from tree buds (such as poplars and conifers), sap flows, or other botanical sources. It is used as a sealant for unwanted open spaces in the hive. Northern temperate propolis has approximately 50 constituents, primarily resins and vegetable balsams (50%), waxes (30%), essential oils (10%), and pollen (5%). In tropical regions, in addition to a large variety of trees, bees may also gather resin from flowers in the genera Clusia and Dalechampia, which are the only known plant genera that produce floral resins to attract pollinators. Propolis samples taken from within a single colony can vary, making controlled clinical tests difficult, and the results of any given study cannot be reliably extrapolated to propolis samples from other areas, so quality claims are impossible to verify. Why do Bees Collect Propolis? Apis cerana is one honeybee species that does not use propolis. Different races of Apis mellifera use propolis to different extents; the Caucasian race is a particularly enthusiastic collector. Propolis is used for plugging small gaps - approximately 6 millimetres (0.2 in) or less in a hive - whilst larger spaces are usually filled with beeswax. Its colour varies depending on its botanical source, the most common being dark brown. The composition of propolis varies from hive to hive, district to district, and from season to season. Normally it is dark brown in colour, but it can be found in green, red, black and white hues, depending on the sources of resin found in the particular hive area. Propolis is sticky at and above room temperature, but at lower temperatures it becomes hard and very brittle. The bee bites off scraps of plant resin with her mandibles and packs them into the corbiculae (pollen baskets) on her hind legs. Each corbicula can carry around 10 mg of propolis. Because of its stickiness, propolis gathering is a slow business. Bees will only collect it when the temperature is above 18 and it can take an hour to fill both bas kets, whilst back at the C, hive, unloading can take another hour. Sometimes, bees also collect man-made materials - such as drying paints, road tar or varnish - and use these in the same way as 'real' propolis. Presumably to bees these substances have a consistency and strong odour similar to plant resins. The Function of Propolis for Bees For centuries, beekeepers assumed that bees sealed the beehive with propolis to protect the colony from the elements, such as rain and cold winter drafts. However, 20th century research has revealed that bees not only survive, but also thrive, with increased ventilation during the winter months throughout most temperate regions of the world.

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Apis mellifera use propolis to keep their homes dry, cosy and hygienic, as the propolis coating makes the walls of their nesting place water and draught proof. Propolis is used to seal up any cracks or gaps where microorganisms could flourish, and the volatile oils in propolis serve as a kind of antiseptic air-freshener. They also use it as a building material to decrease the size of nest entrances, and to make them smooth for passing bee traffic. A thin layer is used to varnish inside brood cells before the queen lays eggs into them, this provides a strong, waterproof and hygienic unit for developing larvae. Speelmanskop Apiary Products has manufactured a propolis based product that has performed well on various fish pathogens so much so that they are achieving better results than with the traditional aquaculture antimicrobials. Human Health Benefits Propolis has long been used as a medicine and is commonly available as an ingredient in toothpaste, lip balm, chewing gum, soaps and ointments. Many people value propolis for sore throats and toothache and take a pea-sized piece of propolis and keep it in their mouths. It is available in many forms, including tablet, capsule, ointment, powder, extract, cream, lotion and other cosmetics. A tincture of propolis is made by dissolving it in alcohol. It's available as a nutritional supplement in health food stores and online. As it is one of the most effective natural antibiotics ever, bee propolis helps to maintain excellent health by strengthening our immune system. So effective are the anti-bacterial, anti-viral and ant parasitic properties of propolis, that the interior of a beehive is many more times germ-free than the most sterile operating theatres. One particularly potent bacterium called MRSA that has killed many people in UK hospitals, and which no other antibiotic seem to be very effective against, is extremely sensitive to propolis. How do you harvest it? There are two approaches to harvesting the substance. The most common is to use a propolis grid that is made up of perforated mesh made of metal, gauze or plastic (you can even buy a rolled net but it is not very effective). This is similar to a queen excluder but with smaller slots - not more than 6 mm. The bees will start to seal up the slots with propolis as soon as it is fitted. Take out the grid when reasonably full and put it in a freezer. After a few days, flexing the sheet will cause the propolis pieces to drop out, and it is possible to harvest 50 gm per hive per season this way. The other approach favoured in Brazil, Slovenia & Russia is to use a propolis tower. This is a box that sits on top of the super but is filled with strips of wood with holes in them on all four sides. The bees will automatically start to fill the holes up to keep out the bright sunlight. It is easier to squeeze the propolis our in button shapes using this method without resorting to freezing. These are generally used in large tree filled areas where there is a lot of resin available. Propolis is now believed to reinforce the structural stability of the hive, reduce vibration, make the hive more defensible by sealing alternate entrances, prevent diseases and parasites from entering the hive, prevent putrefaction within the hive, and to inhibit bacterial growth. Bees usually carry waste out of and away from the hive. However if a small lizard or mouse found its way into the hive and died there, bees may be unable to carry it out through the hive entrance. In that case, they would attempt instead to seal the carcass in propolis, essentially mummifying it and making it odourless and harmless. Side Effects Natural medicine practitioners use propolis for the relief of various conditions, including inflammations, viral diseases, ulcers, superficial burns or scalds (emollients) and reducing the chances of cataracts. Propolis shouldn't be applied to the eye area and repeated use of propolis may make people more prone to developing allergies. It can even cause severe allergic reactions if the user is sensitive to bees or bee products. Try a skin test first if in doubt. It acts as a dental anti-plaque agent and has been the subject of recent dentistry research, since there is some evidence that propolis may actively protect against caries and other forms of oral disease, due to its ant microbial properties. Its use in canal debridement for endodontic procedures has been explored in Brazil. As an anti-tumour growth agent, propolis use in inhibiting tumorigenesis has been studied in mice in Japan and it can also be used to treat canker sores.

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It is used by certain music instrument makers to enhance the appearance of the wood grain. It is a component of some varnishes and was reportedly used extensively by Antonio Stradivarius that may explain the durability over centuries of his much sought-after violins. Royal Jelly Royal Jelly is a milky gelatinous secretion with a pungent and sour taste that is produced by young nurse bees in the hypopharangeal gland located in the brain cavity. In the beehive, the only difference between the raising of a queen and a female worker is the diet in which the larvae are fed. This 'super food' of bees is derived from pollen and specially blended with enzymes and fed continuously to each bee destined to become a queen. A larva developing into a queen consumes much royal jelly and her weight increases 1300 times over a period of six days. It is the exclusive food of the queen bee throughout her highly productive life, enabling her to lay up to 2000 eggs per day at her peak, whereas worker bees fed only ordinary pollen and honey, live just four to six weeks. The royal jelly is administered to the queen bee by the nurse bees licking her body and it being absorbed, however if the Queen requires extra supplies of Royal Jelly, she will suck it directly from the gland in the brain of the bee in which it is produced! Composition The overall composition of royal jelly is 67% water, 12.5% crude protein (including small amounts of many different amino acids), and 11% simple sugars (monosaccharides), also including a relatively high amount (5%) of fatty acids. It also contains many trace minerals, some enzymes, antibacterial and antibiotic components, and trace amounts of vitamin C. The fat-soluble vitamins, A, D, E and K, are completely absent from royal jelly. Health Benefits Royal Jelly is a superb health giving food, as it is also a rich natural storehouse of the B-complex vitamins. With 22 amino acids, it is a highly concentrated source of rich proteins including cystine, lysine and arginine, and also components like Bcomplex vitamins such as pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) and vitamin B6 (pyridoxine). Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic Acid) is one of the most important substances in the body, essential for the synthesis and metabolism of proteins, fats, carbohydrates and several hormones. People with a deficiency suffer fatigue, headaches, upper respiratory infections, sensitivity to insulin, insomnia, nausea and nervous disorders. Royal jelly contains all eight essential amino acids (including nucleic acid) plus ten secondary amino acids and notable amounts of minerals, calcium, copper iron, phosphorous, potassium, silicon and sulphur. As vitamins in the B group are water soluble, taken daily, royal jelly enhances the body's metabolism, and there are reported benefits of greatly increased energy and rapid recovery from fatigue. Other benefits attributed to Royal jelly are that it aids in cell regeneration, improves skin texture and clarity and increases the body's resistance to illnesses. It is favoured by the cosmetics industry as it contains Collagen, a powerful anti-aging element that claims to give users a youthful appearance and skin elasticity. However it should be noted that mammals are very different from insects! Substances that have dramatic effects on honeybees may have no effect whatsoever on mammals and vice versa. This product can also be taken to combat stress, reduce cholesterol and pre-menstrual tension. It is high in protein, and is synthesised during the digestion of pollen. It also contains acetycholine, which plays a varied and important role in the function of the entire body, provoking adrenaline secretion. For a very high nutritional value, a mixture of Royal Jelly, bee pollen and propolis in a base of Vitamin E would provide a whole dietary supplement. As a health tonic, royal jelly is sold as capsules or pills to be ingested on a daily basis. Since it is rare and difficult to collect from hives, it can be quite expensive. It is not a regulated medicine and has never been shown, through scientific studies on humans, to have any health benefits. However, a few studies on mice leave open the possibility that royal jelly can lower cholesterol. When extracted from the hive it must be rapidly refrigerated, frozen or freeze-dried. This process removes only the excess water from the product, leaving all vitamins, minerals, enzymes and co-enzymes present. The method for testing the purity and potency of royal jelly consists of measuring the amount of 10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid (HDA) it contains. A reading of 46%+ HDA, is an excellent standard for royal jelly and a certificate for analysis is kept on file for each batch tested. Ironically, if Royal Jelly did not have a built-in antibiotic factor, the nutritive richness of the Royal Jelly would provide an excellent growing medium for all kinds of harmful microbes.

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Harvesting Royal Jelly The main countries harvesting royal jelly commercially are China, Taiwan and Thailand. Under natural conditions a larva destined to become a queen bee develops in an especially large wax cell or cup, and inside this cell worker bees place lavish amounts of royal jelly. Extra feeding and rigorous time keeping in the manipulation of colonies is needed to achieve great numbers of queens, perhaps 50 or more. Worker bees produce vast amounts of royal jelly and place it in the queen cells. However instead of the larvae feeding on this and developing into queen bees, the larvae are removed and the royal jelly is harvested by the beekeeper. Procedure First you need a colony without a queen then place several queen-cupped frames in the hive. In these cells put 20 - 36 hours old bee larvae. Because bees cannot live without their queen they try to raise a new one and feed larvae with a lot of royal jelly, trying to make new queens. Mature queen cells, i.e. those with larvae four days old (3 days after grafting), must be brought quickly into the extraction room and the open, narrow part of the cells is cut to facilitate and speed up collection. The larvae are removed with a pair of soft forceps, taking care not to harm them and contaminate the jelly. The royal jelly is extracted by emptying each cell with a small spatula, by sucking it up with a special mouth operated device, with a pump-operated device, or by centrifugal extraction for larger extraction batches. Following extraction, the cells are immediately ready for another rearing cycle. Feeding with sugar syrup (1:1 sugar/water) increases cell acceptance, even when flowers are available. Individual queen cells should not contain less than 200 mg of royal jelly, as a low cell content means that there are too many cells for the finisher colony or that the colony is not in a condition to provide for queen rearing. There are racial differences in productivity and specially selected strains can be obtained. The royal jelly must be filtered using a fine nylon net (nylon stockings are excellent) to eliminate fragments of wax and larvae and metal filters should not be used. The jelly should be placed into dark glass vials or food-grade plastic containers, avoiding any excessive exposure to air. It should be refrigerated immediately. Any material or equipment contacting royal jelly - including hands - must be clean and disinfected using heat or pure alcohol. The laboratory must be kept impeccably clean and extraction should never be done outside or in sunlight. A well-managed hive during a season of 56 months can produce approximately 500 gm of royal jelly. Since the product is perishable, producers must have immediate access to proper cold storage (e.g., a household refrigerator or freezer), in which the royal jelly is stored until it is sold. Sometimes honey or beeswax is added to it, which is believed to aid its preservation. How it is Packaged & Sold Royal Jelly is offered in one of two ways. Either in its pure natural state as a thick milky substance whose form is very unstable and must be kept frozen or refrigerated in order to preserve it. This is called Lyophilized Royal Jelly (more commonly called Freeze-Dried Royal Jelly). The second and most popular form is an extract (powder or liquid form) delivered in capsules. There are two methods of achieving a powdered extract, 1 - Freeze-drying Royal Jelly costs more to manufacture but is also the best method because no food preservatives have to be added. This process removes all the moisture content, and contrary to what some manufacturers say, NO nutritional value is lost in this process. 2 - Spray-drying is a cheaper production method that involves diluting down the RJ and spraying it to achieve a dried product. However, this method requires that a food preservative be added to it. Bee Venom Although it is widely believed that a worker honey bee can sting only once, this is a partial misconception. Although the stinger is in fact barbed so that it lodges in the victim's skin, tearing loose from the bee's abdomen and leading to its death in minutes, this only happens if the skin of the victim is sufficiently thick, such as a mammal's. The bee's sting is speculated to have evolved for inter-bee combat between members of different hives, and the barbs serve to improve penetration of the

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chitinous plates of another insect's exoskeleton. When bees sting elastic-skinned mammals like us, the barbs become a hazard to the bees as described above. Honeybees are the only hymenoptera with a strongly barbed sting, although yellow jackets and some other wasps have small barbs. The larger drone bees do not have stings, but in worker bees, the sting is a modified ovipositor. The queen bee has a smooth sting and can, if need be, sting skin-bearing creatures multiple times, but the queen does not leave the hive under normal conditions. Her sting is not for defence of the hive; she only uses it for dispatching rival queens, ideally before they can finish pupating. Queen breeders, who handle multiple queens and have the queen odour on their hands, are sometimes stung by a queen. The main component of bee venom responsible for pain in vertebrates is the toxin melittin, although histamine and other biogenic amines may also contribute to pain and itching. In one of the medical uses of honeybee products, apitherapy, bee venom has been used to treat arthritis and other painful conditions. Studies have shown the amount of venom delivered does not differ if the sting is pinched or scraped off, and even a delay of a few seconds will lead to more venom being injected. Once the stinger is removed, pain and swelling should be reduced with a cold compress. Bee venom is acidic, and neutralising a sting is unlikely to be effective as the venom is injected under the skin and deep into the tissues, where a topically applied alkali is unable to reach. Many traditional remedies are suggested for bee stings, including damp pastes of tobacco, salt, baking soda, meat tenderiser, toothpaste, clay, garlic, urine, onions, aspirin or even the application of copper coins. A study has concluded that only ice is a better treatment for bee and wasp stings than aspirin. For about 2% of people, anaphylactic shock from certain proteins in the venom can be life-threatening as the air passage swells and can suffocate the victim, and this requires emergency treatment by a doctor. People known to be highly allergic should carry around epinephrine, in the form of a self-injectable EpiPen, for the treatment of anaphylactic shock. Harvesting Process The first bee venom products in the forms of injections and creams were introduced in the end of 1920s in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and England. One of the most effective products was patented in 1932, by Pfizer in Germany, and manufactured from 1934, it is still on the market and sold in eight countries. Since the middle 1950s, the electric shock method has been used to stimulate the bees to sting. A collector frame made from wood or plastic that holds a wire grid, is usually placed at the entrance of the hive and connected to a device that supplies electrical impulses. Underneath the frame wires lies a glass sheet that is covered with a plastic or rubber material to avoid contamination of the venom. During collection, bees come into contact with the wire grid and receive a mild electric shock and they sting the surface of the collector sheet as they see this to be the source of danger. The venom, which is a colourless liquid, is then deposited between the glass and the protective material where it dries and is later scraped off.

The newer collector devices and methods (especially the Bee Venom Collector developed by Chung Jin Biotech) are claimed to be safe and do not harm bees but are anathema to biodynamic beekeepers. During 30 minutes of collection time, a well-adjusted collector device claims to kill not more than 10 bees per hive. This loss is not significant to the population of the colony and does not affect its life span. How it is Packaged & Sold After drying, it is a white powder-like material, however if not protected, oxidation will change the colour from white to brownish-yellow and will decrease its healing effect. There are different kinds of venom: pure whole dried, whole dried and freeze-dried (lyophilized) bee venom. Pure whole dried bee venom is the purest venom, being white in colour (often it is snow white), not contaminated with foreign materials and colourless when it is used in a solution. Whole dried bee venom may be contaminated with pollen, faeces, dust, nectar or honey. Its colour varies from yellow to brownish-yellow, which depends on the oxidation of the components. In solution form it also has the same colour.

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Freeze-dried bee venom is a highly processed and purified venom. During the preparation, its moisture content and any other contaminants are removed in order to purify and preserve it. Some of the active components may be removed also if an uncontrolled purification method is used. It is widely employed in creams, liniments and ointments. In a tablet form, it can be used to prepare venom solution for electrophoresis or ultrasonophoresis applications. It is easy to sterilise with syringe filtration. If bee venom is protected from moisture and light it can be stored for five years or more. It will not lose its toxicity, however its healing effects are reduced by storage. Freeze-drying is the most effective method of preserving bee venom. Can bee venom be taken orally? There are dozens of products on the European market in the homeopathic category containing Apis mellifica or Apis Virus (Apiam Virus - venom sac extract). In this category, bee venom is also mixed with snake and centipede venoms and is taken orally to treat cancer. How is bee venom solution (BVS) prepared? One of the simplest methods of preparing bee venom solution is to dissolve the venom in a previously sterilised, hot, isotonic saline solution and pass it through a micropore filter. The disadvantage of this method is that the hot saline solution may partially destroy the active components of the venom. Consequently, its healing effect cannot be compared to the effectiveness of live bee stings. There are other methods to prepare a more effective venom solution, such as by a "cold" preparation method, or by using freeze dried bee venom. Thorough study and precise methodology is required to prepare an effective solution that will meet the high standards of pharmaceutical products. Some of the most commonly used disinfectants, like alcohol or tincture of iodine, should not be used for Bee Venom Therapy (BVT), as these disinfectants rapidly destroy the active components of bee venom. In practice, the affected area can be washed with soap and warm water and dried with a towel. Before administering a bee venom injection, the affected area can be cleaned with ether or benzene.

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