Selling honey from the hives in the UK

[Gilberdyke John]

Those two paragraphs look like they were written by two different people...

They were. Somehow my reply appeared to have been attributed to the o.p. when it was posted. Don't know how or why

 

[BrumB]

John
Your OP mentioned imports there are strict laws around labelling of honey in the UK.
Labelling and selling imported honey as from the UK would be an offence...

 

[john1]

That may be so across the UK, but not Manchester. You're under-pricing, which will suppress the perception of value for customers and beekeepers everywhere.

RAW Manchester Honey 227g (£7.28/227)
Urmston Honey (M41) | Manchester Honey Co. (£10/340)
THE FINEST HONEY, Manchester, Runny Honey (£7.30/227)


Beginner beekeeper has no bearing at all on your price, so set your sights higher. If you sell at £6.50 it will all go; if you sell at £7 it will all go. In London I sell a 340 for £9.50.


If you do anything beyond straining you will devalue the product. Honey will keep for 3,000 years without risk. Buy a double stainless steel strainer (two, because one may become clogged and slow you down).


Rubbish.


A refractometer.


Buy a food-grade honey bucket with a tap. To maximise your return, bottle honey in smaller, not bigger jars: try a 227/8oz. Use electronic kitchen scales and fill an extra 2g to be safe.

Thanks @ericbeaumont

 

[john1]

You may get away with putting your honey straight into jars after straining and settling but if you end up with more than a couple of hives you will find storing in 30lb plastic buckets until you need it to be jarred up for sale is a better way forward.

340gm jars are the current trend ... around a fiver for 340gm is a mid point price where I live - you won't have any trouble selling out at that price. The cost of jars and lids are increasing daily so you may want to start a bit higher - more so if people around you are at £6.50 ! It's not totally about price when selling local honey ... taste, quality of the product, packaging, labelling and clientele will all dictate what the market will stand.

A set of digital scales off Amazon are essential (not expensive) as you need to be accurate and consistent with the weight .. put the empty jar on the scale and set the tare to zero and fill the jar to the correct weight. Not all jars are the same so you really do have to do it properly.

If your honey was capped when you extracted it the likelihood is that it will be below the 20% level but if you are extracting honey that is not capped you should invest in a honey refractometer - again, Amazon, not expensive and it will give you an accurate measure of the water content. Too much water in the honey and it will ferment ... not something your customers will appreciate !

From the sounds of your posts you need a bit of reading ,,, The Haynes Manual of Beekeeping will answer a lot of the practical questions you are raising and will take you step by step through the first couple of years with a 'paint by numbers' guide. Well worth investing in ...

Thanks @pargyle

 

[john1]

Why price lower as a beginner? Perhaps you've made mistakes that have set the bees back and reduced their potential, but what you do harvest is honey like any other. Don't drag the pricing down for everyone.

You can pack immediately after extracting (providing the water content is ok, see next paragraph). General process is remove frames from hive, uncap them, extract them, run through a double sieve or other filter into a settling tank, leave for at least 24 hours - fine wax particles that got through the filter, and any bubbles, will rise to the top. Skim off this foam/scum (nothing wrong with it, keep it for yourself, it just doesn't look as nice), jar the rest.

A cheap refractometer (approx £20, e.g. Honey Refractometer,V·RESOURCING Hand Held Be'(Baume)/Brix/Water Refractometer for Honey Test,Tri-Scale(Baume:38-43°;Brix:58-92%;Water:12-27%) : Amazon.co.uk: Home & Kitchen) will tell you the water% of your honey. To legally be sold as honey it needs to be 20% or lower, ideally under 18% for long term storage without fermenting.

Rather than a measuring cup put some scales under each jar, tare, fill to weight. Rinse and repeat. Tedious, but you know each jar is the correct weight or more and fine at a small scale. (e.g. https://www.amazon.co.uk/ACCUWEIGHT-Electronic-Weighting-Precision-Multifunctional/dp/B07CYN4VCH/)

Thanks, planning to buy Refractometer, bucket and scale.
I found a cheaper refractometer on eBay - Refractometer For Beekeeper Honey Tester 58-90% Brix 38-43°Baume 12-27% water | eBay
Hope it will work fine.

 

[Susan1]

I do not make enough to sell but enough for the family for the year and to give as presents. To be honest I have to not let on I have honey sometimes as I could sell it three times over if I wanted to. The demand for local honey is massive.

 

[Into the lions den]

To the letter of the law, yes. In reality there's nothing wrong with re-using jars though, it's highly unlikely that anyone's going to come after you providing they're undamaged and clean. Lids are another matter as the seal does deteriorate with use.

If I get jars returned I'll probably run them through the dishwasher and re-use them (with new lids), though I've only recently started selling and haven't had any returned jars yet.


The Food Standards Agency and Re-Use of Jars – Bee 1st beekeeping supplies

Bit of a red flag there. Most, if not all, honey jars are made from a grade of glass called white flint. It is specifically a ONE use only type of glass. I know a lot of small producers take jars back and reuse them, but it is a high risk strategy for a few pence saved. On use or reuse...washing etc...especially round the top edge of the thread...contact can introduce microcracks you cannot see. Its not common but it is significant, and little shards of glass can come off and into the product. On a micro scale the chance is small, but you will NEVER find packers of any size reuse white flint glass. The legal consequences of an injury claim from glass fragments are severe, and as you have used glass contrary to the directions for use of while flint glass you will also find your insurance failing to fully (or at all) cover you.

Kindly customers used to bring their jars back to us in the past thinking they were doing a good thing...we did not disabuse them of the idea...but all we did was send them for recycling.

 

[pargyle]

Kindly customers used to bring their jars back to us in the past thinking they were doing a good thing...we did not disabuse them of the idea...but all we did was send them for recycling.

Yes ... I've got a few customers who like to return the jars ... I tell them I don't re-use them but thank them and tell them they will be recycled and they either get used for storing screws in the shed, cleaning paint brushes or end their life in the glass recycling bin. Sometimes customers tell me they keep them and use them for their own purposes ... the hex jars are quite attractive ... I even sold some new lids to a lady who refills them with sweets and bath stuff to give to friends and relatives at Xmas ... But re-using for honey sales - big NO from me ...

 

[Erichalfbee]

Bit of a red flag there. Most, if not all, honey jars are made from a grade of glass called white flint. It is specifically a ONE use only type of glass.

Thanks Murray. Perhaps now we can settle this argument once and for all.

 

[Wilco]

I'm considering moving to refill them as candles rather than just recycling.

 

[JamezF]

Thanks Murray

Indeed. Very useful information.

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Thanks Murray. Perhaps now we can settle this argument once and for all.

doubt it

 

[4degreesWest]

Does anybody know if it’s acceptable to put the BB date/Lot number on a separate label on the base of the jar with a Best Before See Base on the main label?

 

[simonwig]

Does anybody know if it’s acceptable to put the BB date/Lot number on a separate label on the base of the jar with a Best Before See Base on the main label?

Hope so, it's what I do (and many commercial products use them).
Simon

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Does anybody know if it’s acceptable to put the BB date/Lot number on a separate label on the base of the jar with a Best Before See Base on the main label?

yes, perfectly acceptable

 

[4degreesWest]

Thanks. That helps a lot.

 

[4degreesWest]

Duplicate post

 

[The Poot]

Yes ... I've got a few customers who like to return the jars ... I tell them I don't re-use them but thank them and tell them they will be recycled and they either get used for storing screws in the shed, cleaning paint brushes or end their life in the glass recycling bin. Sometimes customers tell me they keep them and use them for their own purposes ... the hex jars are quite attractive ... I even sold some new lids to a lady who refills them with sweets and bath stuff to give to friends and relatives at Xmas ... But re-using for honey sales - big NO from me ...

Info on Somerset Beekeepers,
https://www.somersetbeekeepers.org.uk/members-blog/re-use-of-honey-jars

 

[Newbeeneil]

yes, perfectly acceptable

If I remember correctly the main label should indicate the position of the BB date. ie “Best before date on base”

 

[The Poot]

I contacted Freeman and Harding for information on single use (or not) honey jars.
Here’s their response. I find F&H an excellent company.
I took a screen shot of the email, I hope it’s readable - I didn’t know how to upload it from iPad otherwise.