Honey Information & Benefits:
Honey of a Hobby
When it comes to bees, Jeff Maddox and Rob Maupin of 417 Bees do it all—they sell honey and bees, remove bees and have their own hives. They gave us the scoop on honey’s greatest secrets.
Honey processing is a bit overwhelming for the beginner and this course will help newer beekeepers with lessons learned, how to's and even what not to do's. In this 101 course the picture gallery and video below show a cost effective / affordable way to process and extract your honey.
We were lucky to be invited by Val, owner of Beecharmer Farms, to film and video in her Honey House during peak honey processing. Val has had her honey house since 2007 and is an avid beekeeper not to mention a wonderful mentor to many beekeepers in the area. In the late summer Val invites members from our local Beekeepers Association of The Ozarks to a field day at her facilities and we joined her to film the following day.
Raw honey has been used against infections for millennia, before honey -- as we now know it -- was manufactured and sold in stores.
So what is the key to its' antimicrobial properties? Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have identified a unique group of 13 lactic acid bacteria found in fresh honey, from the honey stomach of bees. The bacteria produce a myriad of active antimicrobial compounds.
- A single honey bee may collect 1/12 teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.
- The honeybee is not born knowing how to make honey; the younger bees are taught by the more experienced ones.
- How many flowers does a honey bee visit during one collection trip? 50-100.
- The honey bee is the only insect that produces food eaten by man.
- "Eat honey, my son, for it is good." - King Solomon (Proverbs 24:13)
Antimicrobial properties of honey
In addition to important role of natural honey in the traditional medicine, during the past few decades, it was subjected to laboratory and clinical investigations. Antibacterial activity of honey is one of the most important findings that was first recognized in 1892; by van Ketel.
Honey is a by-product of flower nectar and the upper aero-digestive tract of the honey bee, which is concentrated through a dehydration process inside the bee hive. Honey has a very complex chemical composition that varies depending on the botanical source. It has been used both as food and medicine since ancient times. Human use of honey is traced to some 8000 years ago as depicted by Stone Age paintings.