Extracting ivy H

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deemann1

Field Bee
Joined
Mar 25, 2017
Messages
663
Reaction score
215
Location
Ireland
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
20+ nucs
I tried my hand to extracting a frame of ivy honey yesterday.
The honey is set rock hard .
I put it in a rice cooker and let it heat on keep warm setting not cook.
After a couple of hours it melted just enough to separate with sieves it was still crystallized a bit when using sieve.
This morning it was semi solid already .
Very strong smell of ivy ....
I have 14 capped frames left what to do with it I don't know I would like to extract the honey but yet I don't want to melt down my drawn frames ...
Any thoughts??
 
Do not like the taste and do not know many who do. I would feed back the frames to my bees, scratch the cap pings and spray liberally with water. Main food source for my early nucs .
 
It's still winter, bees may need more stores. Ivy honey should be teserved for the bees own stores and nothing else.
Leave it for them, if they don't use it now, keep it for feeding nucs or for later forage gaps.
 
Do not like the taste and do not know many who do. I would feed back the frames to my bees, .

:iagree::iagree:

Tastes like S8!T, could tell all the Gym girls and weird-folk it's especially beneficial, Bla Bla price it at £15-£20 per jar?

but much better to leave for the girls.
 
It's just a pity I can't extract without destroying the comb
It's making €16 for 250 grams here in Ireland.
I seen it for sale in one place at €9 per 120g cut comb
 
The secret must be to extract as soon as it's capped - if that's possible. One beek at our CBKA branch regularly extracts Ivy honey but stores it in bulk for at least a year before bottling. It tastes "strong" and he has a following of people who love it.

Are you able to warm up the frames for extraction to 35°C to temporarily turn it into runny honey? If there's a niche market out there, it would be a shame to miss out on it for the want of some out of the ordinary procedures.

CVB
 
now it is reduces to £15,99 ,so obivously no takers at £19
Nope, it was already at £15.99 plus £2.90 postage (I said including postage). I just rounded it up to a £19/12oz. I wasn't expecting a pedant attack on my rounding the figures up 11p.
Jeezzz......
 
The secret must be to extract as soon as it's capped - if that's possible. One beek at our CBKA branch regularly extracts Ivy honey but stores it in bulk for at least a year before bottling. It tastes "strong" and he has a following of people who love it.

Are you able to warm up the frames for extraction to 35°C to temporarily turn it into runny honey? If there's a niche market out there, it would be a shame to miss out on it for the want of some out of the ordinary procedures.

CVB

I think it's time to make a honey warming cabinet
Think it's the only way to try save the comb
I got the ply and a sheet of 150mm kingspan..
Just need to buy the electrical components
 
It's just a pity I can't extract without destroying the comb
It's making €16 for 250 grams here in Ireland.
I seen it for sale in one place at €9 per 120g cut comb

A place in Ireland was running an ad in BeeFarmer mag asking for ivy honey so somebody must like it.
 
Well manuka does well enough for a product that tastes like creosote, if the market is there, take advantage of it.
 
:iagree::iagree:

Tastes like S8!T, could tell all the Gym girls and weird-folk it's especially beneficial, Bla Bla price it at £15-£20 per jar?

but much better to leave for the girls.

Where are all these gym girls who buy honey?

@op, melted a small bit here in the comb in warming cabinet, then ran through press when it'd cooled a bit. Tastes rotten and won't be selling it as I'd be afraid of giving my normal honey a bad name
 
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