A friend of mine sent me a link to a Gawker post regarding this article from Delaware. It says that there are somewhat fewer reports of missing bees than in years past, although the numbers of disappearing colonies are still high. Dare we hope that things are improving and the bees are returning?
Please visit our shop to purchase Noe Valley Honey and other hive products from the Pollen Princesses.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Bottling Time
Looks like the next few days (if not longer) are going to be devoted to bottling the 80+ lbs. of honey that is sitting in tubs in our kitchen. This is going to be tricky, since a bit of it has crystallized already. We can't heat it too much or too quickly as that will affect the quality of the flavor and damage the nutritional value of the pollen, etc. contained in the honey.
If it turns out that I am unable to simply scoop the crystallized honey into jars (rather than pouring it), I will resort to a plate warming tray that we keep for parties. This should work well, if it becomes necessary since the heat generated is low, and the temperature can be controlled to just above normal room temperature. I think that using it I'll be well able to keep the temperature below 90 degrees F which is less than a summer's day in many parts of the country. (Our Summer's days trend in the low 60's.) But I'll be able to let the honey rest at that temperature overnight if need be to get it to a manageable consistency and still keep it raw honey.
fifty pounds of the honey were a surprise find from the Bi-Rite location, and will be sold exclusively at Bi-Rite under their Rooftop Honey label. Fortunately, that is not crystallized at all so it just needs to be strained and bottled.
I have 230 new empty jars that were just delivered, ready to be filled! That means nearly 100 jars of Pollen Princesses honey and over 130 of the Bi-Rite Rooftop honey. Let the stickiness commence!
Please visit our shop to purchase Noe Valley Honey and other hive products from the Pollen Princesses.
If it turns out that I am unable to simply scoop the crystallized honey into jars (rather than pouring it), I will resort to a plate warming tray that we keep for parties. This should work well, if it becomes necessary since the heat generated is low, and the temperature can be controlled to just above normal room temperature. I think that using it I'll be well able to keep the temperature below 90 degrees F which is less than a summer's day in many parts of the country. (Our Summer's days trend in the low 60's.) But I'll be able to let the honey rest at that temperature overnight if need be to get it to a manageable consistency and still keep it raw honey.
fifty pounds of the honey were a surprise find from the Bi-Rite location, and will be sold exclusively at Bi-Rite under their Rooftop Honey label. Fortunately, that is not crystallized at all so it just needs to be strained and bottled.
I have 230 new empty jars that were just delivered, ready to be filled! That means nearly 100 jars of Pollen Princesses honey and over 130 of the Bi-Rite Rooftop honey. Let the stickiness commence!
Please visit our shop to purchase Noe Valley Honey and other hive products from the Pollen Princesses.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
