About Honey and Honey Products
Honey is a sweet, sticky bee product that has been valued by mankind for thousands of years as a food, a medicine and an offering to the Gods. It can be gathered from a variety of flowers or from a single crop. Honey can vary in consistency and most honey will granulate in time, some more quickly than others. Each individual type has its own distinct taste and its own best use.
Listed below are a few varieties of honey and honey products that you will find in the South Yorkshire region and which are seasonal.
We also provide contact details If you wish to buy some local honey and honey products in your South Yorkshire area.
Spring Flower Honey
Bees will visit early spring bulbs such as snowdrops and crocuses, they also love blossoms of fruit trees. Oilseed Rape can be a major source of honey in the spring but the weather needs to be good for the bees to be able to forage.
Creamed Honey
Oilseed Rape granulates very quickly and therefore lends itself well to being ‘creamed’. This involves ‘beating’ the honey as it granulates to break the crystals.
Summer Flower Honey
Lime trees can yield a huge amount of nectar. Also at this time of year, white clover, blackberry, raspberry and rosebay willow herb combine to produce a very good honey.
Borage Honey
Borage is a herb grown as a crop by farmers for the pharmaceutical industry and is sometimes known as ‘Starflower’, it has similar properties to Evening Primrose Oil. It is extremely attractive to bees and produces a mild flavoured honey which can be used as a sweetener in tea and coffee. Also delicious on porridge and yoghurt!
Heather Honey
Heather honey is dark and delicious with a jelly-like consistency, which is called ‘thixotropic’. As a result of this, it cannot be extracted in the usual way and has to be ‘pressed’ or cut into pieces to be sold as ‘cut comb’. Therefore it is more expensive to buy as it has been more difficult to produce. Heather honey has a very strong and distinctive taste and is delicious on wholemeal toast!
Propolis
Propolis is a substance made by the bees from the saps of buds and trees. It is used as a ‘glue’ by the bees to fill any cracks and crevices in the hive, keeping out enemies such as wax moth, draughts and rain. It contains bio-flavanoids that can aid the re-growth of damaged skin. It is believed to be a natural antibiotic and is recommended fore treatment of eczema, psoriasis, ulcers, abrasions, burns, septic wounds and cold sores.
Pollen
Pollen is a fine dust-like powder that is discharged from the male part of the flower. It is a natural antibiotic and dietary supplement as it provides a wealth of vitamins, minerals, protein, trace elements and all the essential amino acids. Pollen can also help ease the discomfort of hay fever.
Beeswax
Beeswax is a by-product of honey production and makes wonderful lip balms, hand lotions, moisturisers, polishers and candles. It is produced by the female worker bees and is usually gold or yellow in colour, depending upon the type of plants that the bees have visited. It has a delightful light fragrance of honey, flower nectar and pollen. Beeswax makes superior, slow burning candles which burn more beautifully than other wax, exuding a faint natural fragrance of honey and pollen as it does so.
If you wonder why beeswax is so expensive, consider this:
It has been estimated that bees must eat around 6 lbs of honey to secrete a pound of wax and this would involve a journey of some 150 000 miles !
If you have an interest in bees and beekeeping, why not contact us to find out about the benefits of becoming a member of the SRBA.
If you would like any further information, please contact us using the details on this website.
