"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 11 Apr 2004 11:55:31 +0100, "Mary Fisher"
wrote:


encourage granulation.

Mary

One thing that I've always wondered. What is the difference between
the clear amber coloured honey and the more cloudy stuff that looks
like contact adhesive? Is it an issue of the plants that the bees
use, the bees or the production afterwards? If so what is done and
how does it work?

How long have you got? Shall I mail you directly?

Mary


I'd be pleased for you to mail me directly, Mary, although wasn't
looking to put you to a lot of trouble. I was just thinking in terms
of a few short notes or URLs. Perhaps others would also be
interested. You do seem to do some quite creative things.......

Many moons ago, I used to help two elderly sisters (they were in their
mid nineties then) with some of the harder work in their garden.
One of them kept bees and had, IIRC, about a dozen hives.
The various paraphernalia was kept in a large shed and included what I
imagined to be some kind of centrifuge. It was something like an
old fashioned laundry copper with a lid on the top and some mechanics
and a big handle rather like a mangle. It appeared that the wooden
frames that held the combs would be slotted into these. At any
rate, it looked like very hard work, but she certainly managed it.
Apart from that, she was very secretive about the whole process. She
would always manage to produce the most excellent honey....

My granda had a dozen or so hives, and a big tin extractor. Along the verge
at the front of the house he had dandelions which he wouldn't scythe until
they were goiing to seed. the honey from that had a yellow tinge.

I can still remember a very hot day when most of the hives swarmed together.
Quite scary. Granda had 2 hip replacements and couldn't run. He got dozens
of stings, but as he rarely used his protective gear and got stung regularly
he was ok. Would have killed the ordinary bod.

My uncle keeps bees on a mountain as he says heather honey is the best.

used to have honey sandwiches with the comb as well. yum.

extraction attracted the bees and a few would get caught on the plate he
scraped the caps onto. he would eat it bees, legs and all. Used to make my
friends gag. funny.

those were the days.