Colur of honey.

[bobba]

I recently participated in another thread that unfortunately I cannot find.

In that thread the topic arose as to whether it is worth the extra effort to keep the honey from each super separate.

I got my first ever harvest of 2 supers in the spring. Both supers yielded a light honey, but one had a pungent flowery after taste. Being a typical noob I was chuffed to bits with 2 flavors. I had kept them sepret just because they were harvested a different times.

So moving forward as an experiment I decided to keep the honey from each super separate.

I removed 3 supers from 1 hive, kept the honey from each separate and you can see what I got I the picture.

I am blown away by the variety and so happy I did not mix it all in 1 big batch.

I was not pedantic about separation, so there is some contamination between batches. I just spun each super in turn into its own bucket. So did not clean the extractor or settling tank between supers.

Obviously if you are a big boy it would just be unpractical to work in such small batches. But for us little guys with a handful of hives, if you can afford the extra effort then I think its worth a try, see what you get in your area. Everyone who sees and tastes them wants a jar of each. And its a great way of increasing your variety of honey from a handful of hives.

It almost seems as if the bees intentionally sorted the honey into different colors. I like to imagine the guard bees barking orders to returning foragers - "dark nectar to the top box".

Anyway, rant aside....

Now everyone who sees my honey has a million questions about the colors. Can anyone tell me what could have gone into each color? The lightest honey had been on the hive the longest, and the most recently filled super was the dark one (I think).

I am not near any fields. There is a lot of blackberry, dandelion and chestnut around here. My bees also visit a lot of garden flowers.

I am wondering could the dark be blackberry?

As usual, thanks in advance for any input.

 

[Erichalfbee]

The dark will be chestnut
Dandelion honey is yellow and crystallises quickly. My summer honey is largely blackberry and rosebay and is fairly light.

 

[elainemary]

Think it’s a great way to appreciate the taste and appearance differences between honey by extracting by super - I do it this way too. Best way to identify an unknown honey is to either enrol on a microscopy course next year (look at pollen under the microscope extracted from the honey) or send a sample for analysis to the National honey monitoring scheme (google to find out more how to do this).

 

[Erichalfbee]

Think it’s a great way to appreciate the taste and appearance differences between honey by extracting by super - I do it this way too. Best way to identify an unknown honey is to either enrol on a microscopy course next year (look at pollen under the microscope extracted from the honey) or send a sample for analysis to the National honey monitoring scheme (google to find out more how to do this).

It’s fun looking at pollen too
Remember though that just because you see a particular pollen doesn’t mean that’s where the honey came from.
My last years honey was stuffed with blackberry pollen but actually came from Rosebay

 

[The Poot in Somerset]

That’s really interesting. The difficulty is you have to have supers of honey to extract like that
Maybe next year....

 

[enrico]

That’s really interesting. The difficulty is you have to have supers of honey to extract like that
Maybe next year....

I too do it this way. Just DON'T FORGET keep one jar from each extraction dated and labelled. In 40 years time you will be saying, and this was my first honey in 2020. I wish I had done that. I have about a dozen now from previous years! The dark one could be sweet chestnut. The light one could be spring blossoms, there are a lot of could be' s!!! The best one is lime, a sort of green! And horse chestnut, a sort of red!
E

 

[Swarm]

The dark will be chestnut
Dandelion honey is yellow and crystallises quickly. My summer honey is largely blackberry and rosebay and is fairly light.

Interesting observation, Dani.
I've some Dandelion honey from 2018. I say Dandelion for the usual reasons, my son said the room smelled like a farm yard when I was extracting it. Certainly pungent and glowing in the extractor as it ran down the inside, similar to the yellow glow of the comb, it barely registered 14%. I had four buckets of this and still have two left. It ain't for sale
It takes a long time to granulate.
My Summer honey is lighter and will granulate within a few weeks.
Here's a photo of the jars I had ready for the Welsh Convention honey swap, I filled them at the start of March.
Eating them now

 

[Erichalfbee]

Interesting observation, Dani.
I've some Dandelion honey from 2018. I say Dandelion for the usual reasons, my son said the room smelled like a farm yard when I was extracting it. Certainly pungent and glowing in the extractor as it ran down the inside, similar to the yellow glow of the comb, it barely registered 14%. I had four buckets of this and still have two left. It ain't for sale
It takes a long time to granulate.
My Summer honey is lighter and will granulate within a few weeks.
Here's a photo of the jars I had ready for the Welsh Convention honey swap, I filled them at the start of March.
Eating them now

Hmmm
I took a super off in the spring and it too was yellow and the dandelions were covering the fields. It crystallised in a matter of ten days. I have sent some for analysis so maybe we’ll find out later in the year.

 

[The Poot in Somerset]

I too do it this way. Just DON'T FORGET keep one jar from each extraction dated and labelled. In 40 years time you will be saying, and this was my first honey in 2020. I wish I had done that. I have about a dozen now from previous years! The dark one could be sweet chestnut. The light one could be spring blossoms, there are a lot of could be' s!!! The best one is lime, a sort of green! And horse chestnut, a sort of red!
E

Enrico, it’s a nice thought, but In 40 years time, if I last that long, I will be dribbling from every orifice and totally unaware of anything around me.

 

[StephenT]

I too do it this way. Just DON'T FORGET keep one jar from each extraction dated and labelled. In 40 years time you will be saying, and this was my first honey in 2020. I wish I had done that. I have about a dozen now from previous years! The dark one could be sweet chestnut. The light one could be spring blossoms, there are a lot of could be' s!!! The best one is lime, a sort of green! And horse chestnut, a sort of red!
E

I did that after you suggested it earlier this year and saved my last jar from my first year beekeeping. It’s beginning to crystallise a bit from the bottom but not a huge amount. Just extracted this years and it looks and tastes pretty much the same which is not that surprising. Hopefully get more next year and will be able to separate extraction of the supers.

 

[Swarm]

Hmmm
I took a super off in the spring and it too was yellow and the dandelions were covering the fields. It crystallised in a matter of ten days. I have sent some for analysis so maybe we’ll find out later in the year.

I still have four of these Orcio jars left, if we ever see conventions again, you can compare it.
I was all ready this year and then the bubble burst

 

[bobba]

Thanks everyone.

At least I have something to tell people when they ask about the different colors.

I like the microscopy suggestion too. I have access to microscopes at work so may investigate further when I have time.

"That’s really interesting. The difficulty is you have to have supers of honey to extract like that
Maybe next year.... "

I hope you have as much success next year as I have had this year.

Last year nothing worked out for me. No honey, wife moaning at me for spending too much time and money on bees, swarm in the neighbors tree. Honestly, I had moments when I regretted getting bees, I seriously considered packing it in.

So as bee keepers we all ride the roller coaster.

I now have 7 different honeys, so don't think I will horde one of each. But I will keep a few of my favorites from each year. The black one is going in the stash.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Morning, your first honey looks like dandelion and the second looks like tree blossom.

Interestingly I've seen different frames in a super that have been different colours even on one frame.
I extracted osr/apple orchard then went on to extract/ process three different types of honey with

Hmmm
I took a super off in the spring and it too was yellow and the dandelions were covering the fields. It crystallised in a matter of ten days. I have sent some for analysis so maybe we’ll find out later in the year.

This is my dandelion honey it crystalised with in weeks of extraction.

Summer honey jar on the right extracted end July.

The jars in the second picture are all four different spring honeys. From different apiarys but one super.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I still have four of these Orcio jars left, if we ever see conventions again, you can compare it.
I was all ready this year and then the bubble burst

Me too
Next year.
I will keep a jar

 

[bobba]

Interestingly I've seen different frames in a super that have been different colours even on one frame.

I saw this too. There were a cupple of dark frames in the amber box and some light frames/patches in the dark box. I think I saw some patches with a red tinge too in the dark box, possibly horse chestnut according to Enrico.

The second jar in your spring honey pic looks amazing. The 1st and 3rd ones almost look like fudge, I would love to try them all haha.

 

[Curly green finger's]

I saw this too. There were a cupple of dark frames in the amber box and some light frames/patches in the dark box. I think I saw some patches with a red tinge too in the dark box, possibly horse chestnut according to Enrico.

The second jar in your spring honey pic looks amazing. The 1st and 3rd ones almost look like fudge, I would love to try them all haha.

I wish I had a microscope so I could look at the pollen grains.. It wouldn't give a definative answer as to what honeys they are mostly but.
Spring honey.
Jar 1 osr/apple orchard soft set Corley apiary (700ft)3 miles away.
Jar 2 garden apiary (450m) dandelion smell.. My favourite all season.
Jar 3 parks apairy 2 miles away.( 1000ft) orchard blossom honey
Jar 4 lineside apiary and the highest apiary at ( 500m) dandelion /harwthorne /cherry.


Picture of some I extracted from a hive in the garden last weekend summer honey, 15th of August.


Don't folk on here do a swaps towards Xmas?

 

[Speybee]

As I am a hobby beekeeper, with few hives,I just spun one honey super at a time which was jarred and labelled with a different Batch number.
It’s been good to see the different colours with blossom honey being very light in colour from the first 2 batches to a darker colour of honey( more the golden colour of syrup) extracted last week...26 wee jars weighing 227g each.
I am hoping to get some Heather honey and if I’m fortunate to get any I will do cut comb method as used premium thin unwired foundation.

 

[simonforeman]

I wish I had a microscope so I could look at the pollen grains.. It wouldn't give a definative answer as to what honeys they are mostly but.
Spring honey.
Jar 1 osr/apple orchard soft set Corley apiary (700ft)3 miles away.
Jar 2 garden apiary (450m) dandelion smell.. My favourite all season.
Jar 3 parks apairy 2 miles away.( 1000ft) orchard blossom honey
Jar 4 lineside apiary and the highest apiary at ( 500m) dandelion /harwthorne /cherry.


Picture of some I extracted from a hive in the garden last weekend summer honey, 15th of August.
View attachment 21655

Don't folk on here do a swaps towards Xmas?

Now there's a thought.... would love to fo a honey swap

 

[MuswellMetro]

register and you can test two honey's for free National Honey Monitoring Scheme

 

[Erichalfbee]

Don't folk on here do a swaps towards Xmas?

A few of us do just that at the Welsh Convention.