Heather dissapoints

[The Poot in Somerset]

This is in Burnham Beeches.

I had a Sierra Cosworth stolen from a hotel car park there. I still had the keys - the thieves literally uplifted it onto a flatbed apparently. Never saw it again.

 

[Speybee]

Ross Rounds have been around since the '50s or '60s and would save Speybee the mess of chopping and cutting.

The cassette clips together lengthways and is one of nine in a box; in each hole sit two white plastic rings and a sheet of extra thin foundation is laid the length of the centre of the cassette; starter strips can be used instead.

A strong colony or swarm is needed to get bees to go into the cassettes; best to remove all other supers on the main flow and cram in the bees. Sometimes they're nearly all filled, sometimes not, depending on the flow. Partly drawn and filled cassettes can be frozen and given back to the bees the following season. I would like to get RRs with pure ivy, but the flow would have to be strong at a time when colonies are winding down.

The individual rounds are removed from the cassette and sealed with two lids; a label holds the lids together. Last year I sold them for £9 each, which isn't bad for 227g of honey; this year the price is going up; I describe them as an edible calendar and it doesn't matter if there are different colour or crystallised honeys in there; it's good with blue cheese, and in Jewish culture a slice is eaten with sharp apple.

Youtube videos here. Best book by far is Richard Taylor's The Comb Honey Book. I would have liked to have met him; read this story of his life; at the end of it you too will love Richard.

I was interested to read your paragraph where partly drawn and filled cassettes can be frozen and given back to the bees the following season.
Are these frozen cassettes given back to the bees as food?
Or are these frozen cassettes given back to the bees to rework, fill and seal and sold on for human consumption as comb honey?

 

[ericbeaumont]

Or are these frozen cassettes given back to the bees to rework, fill and seal and sold on for human consumption as comb honey?

This.

 

[Speybee]

This.

Sorry Eric
I don’t understand what you mean.
Do you give the defrosted combs back to the bees to finish filling and ending up with sealed honey comb for human consumption?

 

[ericbeaumont]

Sorry Eric
I don’t understand what you mean.
Do you give the defrosted combs back to the bees to finish filling and ending up with sealed honey comb for human consumption?

Yes. Should be fine if frozen.

 

[Speybee]

Yes. Should be fine if frozen.

Thanks for that

 

[Murox]

Ross Rounds have been around since the '50s or '60s and would save Speybee the mess of chopping and cutting.

The cassette clips together lengthways and is one of nine in a box; in each hole sit two white plastic rings and a sheet of extra thin foundation is laid the length of the centre of the cassette; starter strips can be used instead.

A strong colony or swarm is needed to get bees to go into the cassettes; best to remove all other supers on the main flow and cram in the bees. Sometimes they're nearly all filled, sometimes not, depending on the flow. Partly drawn and filled cassettes can be frozen and given back to the bees the following season. I would like to get RRs with pure ivy, but the flow would have to be strong at a time when colonies are winding down.

The individual rounds are removed from the cassette and sealed with two lids; a label holds the lids together. Last year I sold them for £9 each, which isn't bad for 227g of honey; this year the price is going up; I describe them as an edible calendar and it doesn't matter if there are different colour or crystallised honeys in there; it's good with blue cheese, and in Jewish culture a slice is eaten with sharp apple.

Youtube videos here. Best book by far is Richard Taylor's The Comb Honey Book. I would have liked to have met him; read this story of his life; at the end of it you too will love Richard.

Thanks for that info and the book link. The more I read about rounds the more I like the sound of them.

 

[GuyNir]

Thanks for that info and the book link. The more I read about rounds the more I like the sound of them.

Fredrick Dunn just put out a video about Ross Rounds you might find useful

 

[Speybee]

Thanks for that info and the book link. The more I read about rounds the more I like the sound of them.

Any one got any idea of the price of cut comb honey eg 8oz?

 

[BugsInABox]

New at this, but had assumed foundation-less was a prerequisite to decent comb honey so surprised by this.

 

[GuyNir]

New at this, but had assumed foundation-less was a prerequisite to decent comb honey so surprised by this.

Not necessarily. Thin foundation is also used.

 

[BugsInABox]

Isn’t foundation chemical tainted? Edible?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Isn’t foundation chemical tainted?

why should it be?

 

[BugsInABox]

why should it be?

Isnt it something about over the years wax was getting recycled over and over into foundation which is batched in bulk - so even one contaminated ‘donation’ gets dispersed out across the whole production. Unless you press your own I guess?

 

[Speybee]

Isnt it something about over the years wax was getting recycled over and over into foundation which is batched in bulk - so even one contaminated ‘donation’ gets dispersed out across the whole production. Unless you press your own I guess?

There is the more expensive Premier grade thin unwired wax foundation and then you have the cheaper grade wax worker foundation, etc.
For cut comb I would use the thin unwired premier grade wax foundation as it’s a better quality product and one I would eat.

I would have thought that in production process of anything edible you must have SOPs= Standard operating procedures, in place and I assume this would also be the case in recycling foundation, so how a ‘contaminated’ donation ever gets near a batch would be as likely as me going to the moon and back.

And as another forumite asked “ why should it be?” [ tainted]...a valid point.

 

[fiat500bee]

And as another forumite asked “ why should it be?” [ tainted]...a valid point.

I wouldn't want to eat commercially made foundation no matter how thin or "premium" it was. From what I can work out it's made from wax bought in from anywhere and everywhere. I'm sure it's possible to sterilise it and I would hope it is packaged in sealed bags, but the manufacturers can't have any control over how it has been handled before they get it.

Given the quantities of acids and oils which bees get doused with, on this one I don't need any scientific evidence to persuade me that it's probably not a great idea to eat it. Then again, I am a bit picky because I don't even want my bees near it from now on.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I wouldn't want to eat commercially made foundation no matter how thin or "premium" it was. From what I can work out it's made from wax bought in from anywhere and everywhere. I'm sure it's possible to sterilise it and I would hope it is packaged in sealed bags, but the manufacturers can't have any control over how it has been handled before they get it.

Given the quantities of acids and oils which bees get doused with, on this one I don't need any scientific evidence to persuade me that it's probably not a great idea to eat it. Then again, I am a bit picky because I don't even want my bees near it from now on.

Does the human digestive system actually break down the wax thereby releasing and absorbing these “contaminants” ? Or does it just pass silently through?

 

[fiat500bee]

Does the human digestive system actually break down the wax thereby releasing and absorbing these “contaminants” ? Or does it just pass silently through?

....maybe you can test that possibility on our behalf and report back on the contents of your passings?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

....maybe you can test that possibility on our behalf and report back on the contents of your passings?

Novel way of making your own crayons
Or maybe try swallowing a length of No2 wick at the same time

 

[Speybee]

I wouldn't want to eat commercially made foundation no matter how thin or "premium" it was. From what I can work out it's made from wax bought in from anywhere and everywhere. I'm sure it's possible to sterilise it and I would hope it is packaged in sealed bags, but the manufacturers can't have any control over how it has been handled before they get it.

Given the quantities of acids and oils which bees get doused with, on this one I don't need any scientific evidence to persuade me that it's probably not a great idea to eat it. Then again, I am a bit picky because I don't even want my bees near it from now on.

If it were tainted with acids/oils etc [ we sprinkle acetic acid on our chips? We drizzle olive oil on our salad leaves] or anything else for that matter, it would not be fit for human consumption as it would be unsafe and it would be illegal to sell such tainted foodstuff.

If we took that exponential leap, then none of us would eat honey because of the wee label “do not feed to children under 12 months”.

I was speaking to a pal in Fife and she was telling me all about the ‘evils’ of commercially made foundation with its impurities and it seems the latest fad doing the rounds in some bee-meets, is how impure this ‘contaminated foundation’ is.
Contaminated with what precisely?
If it is contaminated, please share the facts or links as, I would not like to mislead future consumers when my colonies manage to produce some comb honey which is safe for human consumption.
I would have thought that if the wax is contaminated, I would be one of the first folk, to be beating my gums over it, with the supplier.

This point of view appears to be gaining popularity with some honey producers who claim their honey is organic.....Er Hello?

Of course all of us should be entitled to access basic unadulterated foodstuffs and not just the preserve of the ‘affluent foodies’ prepared to pay twenty odd quid for a wee jar of Duchy honey from Fortnum and Mason.

PS. The premier grade thin unwired foundation comes in a sealed packet and when you open the packet the smell of beeswax is amazing.
Please don’t burst ma bubble and tell me the beeswax smell is due to an E number ( I’m beginning to lose the will to live now)