How to choose Raw Honey? Beekeeper’s Tips

Midsummer is a time when beekeepers actively pumped bee’s essential product. Fragrant and incredibly tasty natural honey can do wonders: it boosts immune system, helps to treat for different illnesses, makes your skin healthy and silky during massage. But about all other details in interview with Roman Kraiuk, expert beekeeper from Kanev.

We Love UA: Why it’s better for beekeepers to pump honey in a midsummer?

Roman Kraiuk: First of all, it is because the honey has to mature and be not only delicious, but also of very high quality. For this purpose, at least one third of the cell at the frame must be sealed. By the way, ripe honey is much better and can last longer. Of course, there are those beekeepers who pump honey in the late spring or early summer. In my opinion, it’s better to wait a bit and gather really high-quality and healthy product. Finally, we can see flowering of buckwheat, phacelia, mustard in June and the beginning of linden, gills and other plants blooming in July. That’s why you can have a great honey harvest in the middle of summer.

How exactly is pumped this delicious and high-value product?

Firstly, you need to do it when it’s nice and clear day and the bees fly to honey plant. Meanwhile there are few of bees in the hives, which greatly facilitates beekeeper’s work. In addition, it is much better to gather honey from ten of the morning. After removing the frame with honey from the hive and bringing them into the house, I open the cells with a special knife and put the frames to the honey extractor. There was a time when the honey extractors were made of wood, now they are metal, manual or electric. Nowadays, there are a lot of beekeeper’s controversies on which extractor is better. However, from my personal experience, I can say that each one has its advantages. When your apiary is not big, it is better to use manual one. It is necessary to smoke the removed from the frame hive to neutralize the honey flavor. Otherwise, bees from other stumps can attack the hive after sensing that fragrance. For this reason, I kindle pieces of dust, sometimes by adding dried herbs, in the special chimney and funk bee’s houses. After the honey is pumped out, I return the frame to its place and start to filter this gift of God’s insects.

And how to filter and store honey?

I put a vessel near the extractor with a gauze above it and turn on the tap with honey. From this vessel I pour honey into a lime barrel, glass jars or cans. A vessel into which I pour honey must be clear and dry, because, if there are at least two or three water drops, honey can go bad.

Can you advise on what we need to look to choose honey on the market?

You need to remember that ripe honey is liquid in the summer when it is just pumped. In the fall and winter, it should be thick. When it is liquid, it shows that it was pumped prematurely and it contains excess water. Good quality honey has a pleasant flavor. The product cunning by fake sellers often has a sharp chemical smell. In addition, this product should not contain impurities and bubbles. These bubbles show that honey was warmed to pass it off as fresh. Such procedures take a heavy toll on biologically active substances that this product contain. In this case, there will not be enough benefits for health. The quality of honey can also be defined by its consistency. Natural product pouring out of spoon forms a thin thread and accumulates in the pagoda form, which with time will spread slowly. The fake product drips and falls into bulk. If you take a little bit of high-quality honey on hand, it will soak into the skin and powder evenly. Fake product, with variety of additions, which honey should not contain, will clot. The most important thing is that high-quality honey has a delicate, slightly tart taste and leaves a light feeling of burning in the throat.