Honeybee Facts

Greenbluff Honey Farm
19310 N. Dunn Rd.
Colbert, Wa 99005
(509)238-4118

About Honey, what the Beekeeper Knows.

Honeybees visit flowers and trees taking back to the hive Pollen and Nectar. The act of gathering Pollen pollinates the crop and the sweet reward that attracts the bees is the Nectar. Pollen is high in protein and is the building material for a bees life. The Nectar brought back is given some enzymes and is stored for drying in the comb. The hive is maintained around 90 - 93 degrees for the brood (baby bees) and this helps the honey ripen. When moisture is reduced enough the bees know it is ripe and will then cap the honey. In our area this results in moisture level being about 14%. The protein from pollen and carbohydrates from honey is all the bees need, and the honeybee tends to put up more honey than needed and that excess honey is our reward.

Honey is the ONLY perfect food, it does not spoil, but may crystalize. When heated gently it will return to its fine liquid state. Raw honey contains pollen and enzymes from the process of making the honey... these are extremely valuable to us and help provide the special honey flavor that straight from the hive can provide. We are careful not to overheat the honey, as this would break down some of the enzymes and hurt the flavor. We do not filter the honey as this would remove the pollen which is good for us in so many ways.

Honey commercially processed is heated to above 165 degrees to pasteurize, thus killing any yeast or natural items that may lead to fermentation. The honey can be up to 20% moisture by Washington Law, so water can be added. The Honey is filtered to remove all particles and this also removes the pollen. This process results in a thinner Honey that has the pollen removed and the enzymes destroyed, loosing that straight from the hive health benifit and flavor.

As beekeepers we know that ripe honey will not ferment as the bees reduce moisture enough not to allow this. Sometimes we add water to allow fermenting and make Mead, but that is another story. Honey in its natural state is an anti-microbial and has been used in days of old to treat severe wounds and prevent infection.

This is why, when it comes to buying Honey you should know your beekeeper or at least the source of the Honey. Buy Local!

Interesting Facts:

The honeybee will visit around 2 million flowers and fly 55,000 miles to produce 1# of honey.

Honeybees communicate with pheromone's (odor) and by dances. The dance will tell them how to navigate using the sun as a reference to the location of nectar-bearing flowers and how far to go. The honey dance.

10# of nectar is needed to produce 1# of honey.

Honeybees are the only insects that produce food (honey) for humans.

Honey properly put up will not spoil and we have found honey thousands of years old that are still good.

A honeybee could fly around the world with the energy from 2 tablespoons of honey.

A honeybee has two stomachs: the honey sac, where she stores nectar that will be made into honey, and the midgut, where she digests her food.

The Queen is fed honey by tending bees and will lay up to 2500 eqqs per day.

Honeybees can control the temperature in the hive even when outside conditions vary from -20 to 120 degrees.

The bee using their wax gland makes honeybee wax; they eat honey and secrete wax. It is the only wax digestible by humans.

Honeybees never hibernate, they cluster (cuddle) together to keep warm, eat honey for energy and flex their flight muscles to generate heat. Outside may be -20 degrees, but inside the cluster will be 60.

To raise babies (brood) the hive is maintained about 93 degrees, if too hot they put out water and fan to cool the hive and if too cool they use their body heat to maintain the temperature.

Honey contains pollen; so eating local honey is good for allergies as it contains pollens from the area.

Processed honey is pasteurized which destroys some enzymes that are good and also filters out the pollen from the honey.

Honey above 20% moisture can spoil or ferment; this is why only "ripe" honey should be sold.

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