Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Granulated honey is liquid honey seeded with a fine-grained, starter honey. About
5-10% of the honey should be made up of this seed honey or starter. The seed honey's
small glucose crystals are spread throughout the honey by a stirrer and held at an
optimum temperature for crystal growth. If the seed honey is heated slightly in a warm
room so that it spreads easily, it will mix better.
Stir the honey at 20°C (68ºF) - not more - until it is thoroughly mixed, and then store
it in a cold room at around 14° C (57ºF). This will achieve the finely granulated honey
that is popular with the public. This method is named after its discoverer and is known
as the Dyce process.
This honey may set hard, and so creamed honey is also produced. This is honey that
will not set hard. It is produced by a process that involves turning finely granulated
honey in a stirrer that incorporates air into the mix and reduces the size of the glucose
crystals.
Most beginner beekeepers, however, prefer to start off by producing plain, well filtered
liquid honey. I have included the information above about comb, granulated and
creamed honeys to give you a taster of what is to come in your beekeeping career.
After the bees have settled down, inspect all the hives to ensure the queen is present
(you may have damaged or lost her during the harvest), that there are no diseases and
that there are adequate stores. (Remember you have just taken away most of them.)
That is your year up to the harvest. It wasn't difficult, was it? It should, however, have
been interesting and, if you've got this far, you've done pretty well. Below is a general
timeline for your activities throughout the active beekeeping season, just to remind you
of your tasks.
