Why keep bees?
If you ask a beekeeper this question, he will probably look at you quizzically and say: 'Bees? I keep them because I like them!' This is certainly as good a reason as any for keeping bees, but the inner satisfaction for many beekeepers comes in part from their recognition of the vital role played by bees in nature.
Bees account for 80 per cent of all pollination by insects. Honeybees alone carry out more pollination than butterflies, wasps, bumblebees and flies put together. They have the advantage of being able to pollinate many different types of plant rather than being restricted to just a few, as many wild bees are. Because they overwinter in a colony, large numbers of honeybees are ready to collect pollen in the spring, when most plants are in bloom. In addition, honeybees practise flower fidelity and do not pollinate at random, which ensures that the pollen reaches the correct plant.
Throughout history the bee has been considered a sacred creature, with its products held in high esteem. Even today bees fascinate many people because of their ordered social structure in which thousands of bees can live to together harmoniously. They feed on pollen and nectar from plants; products which would otherwise go unused. The amazing fact is that in taking they give something back as well; giving insect-pollination by transferring pollen from one to another and enabling seed formation.
If you are seriously thinking about becoming a beekeeper, first ask yourself if you have what it takes. The first and most important prerequisite is a love of honeybees. If you are really interested and want to study nature, you are already halfway. A colony of bees can be very fascinating, but that do not mean you should launch yourself into beekeeping without any prior knowledge and without asking the advise of an experience apiarist.
First of all there are certain basic facts and rules to learn. If you want to get it right, you have to adapt to the laws of the bees, and not vice versa! It is vital for a novice to understand that every bee colon has an individual identity and needs individual handling. This means one colony may react completely differently from another colon to the same thing. What is right for one particular colony in one particular year may be completely wrong the following year. That is what makes beekeeping fascinating; it is full of surprises!
When the beekeeper finally sees capped honeycombs hanging in the hives, his heart will probably beat faster, because this is where the 'sweetest' part of his work begins. To learn more about beekeeping on by blog.
For all the facts on how to become a beekeeper and make your own honey, please visit my blog, http://basicfactsofbeekeepingtomakehoney.blogspot.com/
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11 Most Unbelievable Honey Benefits That Many People Don't Know
Here are eleven most incredible benefits of honey that many people don't know. Check how many of them you actually know.
1. Honey is the only sweetener that isn't man-made and has healing effects.
2. With about 18% water and a pH of 3-4, honey is very stable and can last for literally centuries when stored properly.
3. While empty calories from refined sugar contribute health issues and obesity, honey reduces fatty accumulations in our cardiovascular system.
4. Unlike refined table sugar or sucrose, honey does not ferment in our stomach to pose any danger of bacterial invasion.
5. Honey is a monosaccharide, the simplest form of sugar that cannot be further broken down, passing directly from the small intestine into the blood stream without causing any irritancy to our digestive system as sucrose does.
6. The most ideal fuel for burning our body fat stores during sleep due to its 1:1 ratio of fructose and glucose.
7. As the most superior burn treatment, honey relieves pain effectively and heals wound faster with minimal scarring.
8. Honey contains vitamins and antioxidants; in fact one unique antioxidant called "pinocembrin" is only found in honey.
9. According to researchers, honey is a more effective and safer remedy for children's coughs than over-the-counter medicines.
10. Doctor D.C. Jarvis, author of "Folk Medicine" advised that mixing the apple cider vinegar with honey would enhance the healing power of the vinegar.
11. Anabolic honey, a concentrated source of fructose, glucose, is a preferred sweetener choice for athletes.
Eat honey, a good old-fashioned food designed by nature for us human beings!
Ruth Tan runs the popular website Benefits of Honey which is an immensely rich, quality resource on honey and its benefits, and a plethora of health-related issues. Discover the amazing health benefits and all the positive spin-offs super-food honey can bring to your life and the lives of your loved ones at http://www.benefits-of-honey.com |
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Cooking With Honey-Useful Facts And Tips
Cooking with honey gives you a never-ending list of possibilities and recipes due to the many practical functions honey could serve. Here I list you seven:
Honey
1) enhances browning and crisp -- great for glazing roasted and baked foods to promote surface browning.
2) is a flavour enhancer -- an always welcomed natural sweetener for hot teas and cold beverages.
3) provides texture and feel -- an excellent addition in pastries and cakes making.
4) prolongs shelf-life -- a natural preservative for pickles and sauces.
5) retains moisture -- an essential ingredient for providing the moisture in rich cakes and prolonging the moisture retention.
6) is binding due to its viscosity -- a brilliant ingredient that aids shaping of desserts such as pastries, puddings, and cakes.
7) adds colour -- contributes a delightful golden hue to sauces, dressings, jellies, and frozen desserts.
And there are several tips on cooking with honey which I believe you will find very useful:
1. As a general guide, when using honey recipes, use less of honey because it is almost twice as sweet as sugar. Replace one cup of sugar for half a cup of honey, and because honey is hygroscopic (meaning it attracts water) , reduce the amount of liquid in the recipe by 1/4 cup for each cup of honey added.
2. Give longer time for beating and more vigorous beating compared to sugar recipes, and when baking with honey.
3. Add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda for each cup of honey used. This will neutralize honey's acidity and help the food rise.
4. Reduce the oven temperature by 25 degrees Fahrenheit. Honey batter becomes crisp and browns faster than sugar batter.
5. When using honey in jams, jellies, or candies, increase the cooking temperature just a bit to allow the extra liquid to evaporate.
6. The floral variety of the honey should be considered when cooking with honey since honey will impart some of its flavour.
Source: http://www.benefits-of-honey.com/cooking-with-honey.html
Honeyed Yogurt Cereal Topping
Try this for a change on hot cereal or granola.
8fl oz (220 ml) Plain low-fat yoghurt
1 Tablepoonful of your honey
half a Ripe Banana
half teaspoonful vanilla extract
Pinch of nutmeg
Blend together all the ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Cooking with Honey
The most important thing to remember when using honey in cookery is that it has a high liquid content, and compensation must be made by slightly reducing the other liquids in the recipe. Also it is best, when possible, to add honey towards the end of the cooking to avoid altering its flavours.
One cupful (10 fluid ounces) of honey weighs 15 ounces.
To Substitute honey for sugar in a given recipe, reduce the amount of sweetener called for by a least one-fourth (up to a half, according to your taste), and reduce the liquid in the recipe by one-eighth.
Most cakes, with the exception of spice breads and some dense honey cakes, do not adapt well to honey. It is too heavy, and your cakes will be dense, with no fine crumb. It does, however, give breads a good texture and a longer shelf life. When baking with honey, be careful not to overheat your oven – Gas Mark 6 to Gas mark 7 – because honey will darken and caramelize quickly.
Honey foams dramatically when it reaches boiling point, so use a large saucepan for syrups.
To facilitate measuring, oil or butter measuring spoons and cups (this way it won’t stick), and heat solid honey gently in a bain marie.
Honey is at its peak flavour when freshly harvested, so the autumn is the best time to sample and purchase it.
Storing Honey
Honey will keep in a well-sealed jar for up to two years if stored in a cool, dark place. Once opened it is best to consume it fairly quickly, although it still has a long life. Do not refrigerate, and do not keep in a warm cupboard. If the honey develops a foamy surface it has turned, and should be thrown out.
Honey-Poached Pears
¾ pint dry white wine (preferably Chablis or Chardonnay)
4 fl oz (110ml) honey
1 teaspoonful vanilla extract or 1/2 vanilla pod
2 tablespoonfuls lemon juice
4 firm ripe pears
1 tablespoonful chopped fresh mint
Combine the white wine, honey, vanilla and lemon juice in a non-aluminium saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and maintain at a simmer.
Peel, quarter and core the pears and drop immediately into the simmering wine. Simmer 15 minutes. Drain and pour the liquid back into the saucepan.
Boil down the wine for about 10 minutes, or until you have about a cupful, and it is thick and amber coloured.
Place the pears in a serving bowl and pour in the wine. Serve warm or chilled, garnished with mint. These can be refrigerated overnight.
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Basic Beekeeping Tools - What Do You Really Need?
When you first start a beekeeping business you may feel overwhelmed with the huge amount of choices you have when it comes to beekeeping equipment. There are a lot of beekeeping product suppliers, and unless you are familiar with the basic equipment you will need, you won't know what basic beekeeping tools you will need, and which you won't. In this article, we will go over the basic equipment you need, and what you absolutely must have, and what you can do without.
-The Most Important Equipment is the Hive-
First you need to think about the hives you get. The hive is the absolute most important piece of equipment you have, and you need to take the time to educate yourself and find the right hive for your needs, the type of beekeeping you want and the area you are in.
When you choose your bee hive you can't let the cost affect your decision. You need to choose a hive that is well constructed, made of quality wood. If you can find red cedar, all the better. You see, cedar smells good and is also very attractive. Pine is also used for hives but it isn't as stable as other types of wood. Hives that are made of cedar will not warp and the oils keep the wood very stable.
Once you have looked at different types of hives and asked other local beekeepers what the best hive is for your area, and have chosen the one you want, then its time to go on and look for other equipment.
-The Bees Themselves-
At this point you will need to decide on whether or not you plan on buying a bee colony, or whether you plan on harvesting a swarm. It is easier to buy them, and less dangerous and risky than harvesting them, although it is a little more expensive too.
-The Smoker-
Your next essential item is the "smoker." This item is what allows you to check the hive without being stung. A puff or two of smoke calms the bees down and lets you check the hive while they are disoriented. The smoker allows you to manage the hives safely. When you don't use one, you need to have a top-bar hive, or you risk the chance of being stung.
-Protective Apparel-
You should also get some protective clothing like a bee suit so that you protect yourself from being stung, while you work on the hives. The protective clothing also keeps the honey bees from getting into your clothing. Not only that, but a bee suit will also keep you cooler when you work in the sun.
-Hive Tools and Gloves-
You need to use hive tools to extract the honey and the wax from the hive, you also need the tools to open the hive up. Hive tools come in handy for everything you need that relates to hives.
Gloves are also an item that you might consider getting. Gloves will keep bees from stinging your hands and wrists. They will also help you keep bees from going up into your skin, and stinging you.
Other smaller items you will need are bee feed and honey comb supplies, which the supplier can help you acquire. Essentially that is all the equipment you will need to start your beekeeping business. As you can see, for a business, the investment is minimal. This is good news if you are looking for a home based business that will bring in that extra income you need.
-The Most Important Equipment is the Hive-
First you need to think about the hives you get. The hive is the absolute most important piece of equipment you have, and you need to take the time to educate yourself and find the right hive for your needs, the type of beekeeping you want and the area you are in.
When you choose your bee hive you can't let the cost affect your decision. You need to choose a hive that is well constructed, made of quality wood. If you can find red cedar, all the better. You see, cedar smells good and is also very attractive. Pine is also used for hives but it isn't as stable as other types of wood. Hives that are made of cedar will not warp and the oils keep the wood very stable.
Once you have looked at different types of hives and asked other local beekeepers what the best hive is for your area, and have chosen the one you want, then its time to go on and look for other equipment.
-The Bees Themselves-
At this point you will need to decide on whether or not you plan on buying a bee colony, or whether you plan on harvesting a swarm. It is easier to buy them, and less dangerous and risky than harvesting them, although it is a little more expensive too.
-The Smoker-
Your next essential item is the "smoker." This item is what allows you to check the hive without being stung. A puff or two of smoke calms the bees down and lets you check the hive while they are disoriented. The smoker allows you to manage the hives safely. When you don't use one, you need to have a top-bar hive, or you risk the chance of being stung.
-Protective Apparel-
You should also get some protective clothing like a bee suit so that you protect yourself from being stung, while you work on the hives. The protective clothing also keeps the honey bees from getting into your clothing. Not only that, but a bee suit will also keep you cooler when you work in the sun.
-Hive Tools and Gloves-
You need to use hive tools to extract the honey and the wax from the hive, you also need the tools to open the hive up. Hive tools come in handy for everything you need that relates to hives.
Gloves are also an item that you might consider getting. Gloves will keep bees from stinging your hands and wrists. They will also help you keep bees from going up into your skin, and stinging you.
Other smaller items you will need are bee feed and honey comb supplies, which the supplier can help you acquire. Essentially that is all the equipment you will need to start your beekeeping business. As you can see, for a business, the investment is minimal. This is good news if you are looking for a home based business that will bring in that extra income you need.
The Buzz on Making Bees Wax!
From all of us at http://www.kissmybees.com/ we welcome you to another bee article! Many people who use our candles and lip balms occasionally ask us "Where Do You Get Your Bees Wax From?" and also "How Does Bees Wax Get Made?". Well we are here to answer those questions today.
Our Bees Wax candles are made out of 100% pure beeswax with no additives. We get our beeswax mostly from local Florida bee-keepers. The beekeepers are the ones who house and support the bee colonies and as a result produce honey and bee wax. Below is a perfect description from our friends at The Bees Wax Co. on the formation of beeswax by honey bees.
It all begins on a flower in the field. Bees collect nectar from the flowers and bring it to the hive where it becomes either beeswax or honey. A bee's diet consists primarily of honey, and any honey not consumed by the bees or in the raising of brood is stored as surplus and is ultimately consumed in the winter months when no flowers are available. It is the other use of honey that is of interest to us here: the conversion into beeswax.
The production of beeswax is essential to the bee colony. It is used to construct the combs in which the bees raise their brood and into which they store pollen and surplus honey for the winter.
Worker bees, which live only around 35 days in the summer, develop special wax-producing glands on their abdomens (inner sides of the sternites of abdominal segments 4 to 7) and are most efficient at wax production during the 10th through the 16th days of their lives. From about day 18 until the end of its life, a bee's wax glands steadily decline. The bees consume honey (6-8 pound of honey are need to produce a pound of wax) causing the special wax-producing glands to covert the sugar into wax which is extruded through small pores. The wax appears as small flakes on the bees' abdomen. At this point the flakes are essentially transparent and only become white after being chewed. It is in the mastication process that salivary secretions are added to the wax to help soften it. This also accounts for its change in color.
The exact process of how a bee transfers the wax scales from its abdomen to its mandibles was a mystery for years. It's now known to be done in either of two ways. Most of the activities in the hive are cooperative so it should be no surprise that other worker bees are willing to oblige and remove the wax scales from their neighbors and then chew them. The other method is for the same bee extruding the wax to process her own wax scales. This is done using one hind leg to move a wax scale to the first pair of legs (forelegs). A foreleg then makes the final transfer to the mandibles where it is masticated and then applied to the comb being constructed or repaired.
Beeswax becomes soft and very pliable if the temperature is too high (it actually melts at 149 F). Likewise, it becomes brittle and difficult to manage if the temperature is too low. However, honeybees maintain their hive at a temperature of around 95 degreesFahrenheit which is just perfect for the manipulation of beeswax: not to hot to be at the point of dripping and not to cold to so as to be brittle.
A honeycomb constructed from beeswax is nothing short of a triumph of engineering. It consists of hexagon shaped cylinders (six-sided) that fit naturally side-by-side. It has been definitively proven by mathematicians that by making the cells into hexagons, it is the very most efficient: the smallest possible amount of wax is used for the volume of honey it contains. It has also been shown to be one of the strongest possible shapes while using the least amount of material.
The color of beeswax comprising a comb is at first white and then darkens with age and use. This is especially true if it is used to raise brood. Pigmentation in the wax can result in colors ranging from white, through shades of yellow, orange, and red all the way to brown. The color has no significance as to the quality of the wax (other than its aesthetic appeal).
Try one of our famous Florida Bees Wax Lip Balms or one of our hand-poured beeswax candles for a true treat any time! Shop onlineat http://www.floridaherbhouse.com/, or http://www.sharpweblabs.com/! We welcome your questions always! :-)