tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4902880723202237253.post-48841923558171318082009-01-24T21:30:00.001-06:002009-01-28T11:08:33.827-06:00We like to eat honey but it is often cost prohibitive and we wind up using sugar (no one cares for the flavor of molasses here). I would love to keep bees but since we live right in town and are surrounded by neighbors I am pretty sure that it is against city ordinances and even if it isn't it is still a liability if the bees were to sting a neighbor or passer-by.<br /><br />This fall my menfolk were out cutting wood (we burn wood in the winter) and while splitting a downed tree they came across a hive. Most of the bees were gone and the honeycombs were just sitting there going to waste. They called a friend of ours who keeps bees and he came out and got some of the newer honeycombs and took them to make honey for their family, our family, and another family. He estimated that he would get approximately 3 quarts of honey from what he took. My son asked about the remaining combs and he said he preferred the lighter honey but there was nothing wrong with the darker honey other than it has a stronger flavor. My son(absolutely fascinated at this point) got a bucket and brought home the remaining combs for me to deal with.<br /><br />We got out a book with information on doing honey and we called our friend with a few questions and then we were off and running with it. It took me literally hours to clean that honey to my satisfaction and it was a lot of work, a lot of mess, some serious gross factor, and tons of fun. AND we ended up with a delicious batch of honey! I think we actually got 7 pint jars of honey from the combs but we gave a few to our neighbor. It does have a very strong flavor but it makes wonderful Mother Earth Bread (a wonderful bread recipe I got from a lovely lady named Lee at PH). I will share the recipe in a later post (maybe tomorrow or Monday).<br /><br /><br />Here are the honeycombs in the huge pot I use for waterbath canning:<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5294555121370904322" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ch0Qbn7sWGA/SXoJ1MUJtwI/AAAAAAAAAUk/oOXOv3yjSQs/s320/more+pics+from+camera+021.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br /><br /><br />Here it is as it is slowly melting on the stove. (this took forever it seemed):<br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295051441495078514" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ch0Qbn7sWGA/SXvNO0279nI/AAAAAAAAAUs/Qa3a8q3Bb58/s320/more+pics+from+camera+074.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br />Here we are straining it thru several layers of cheesecloth (see all the yucky stuff that was from the combs? EW!)<br /><br /><br /><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295055608383966434" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ch0Qbn7sWGA/SXvRBXuqjOI/AAAAAAAAAU0/pfyMfGee5Ww/s320/more+pics+from+camera+076.jpg" border="0" /> </div><div></div><div>After several times thru the cheese cloth we again heated it up just above 150deg. per the instructions in our book and then strained it again thru more cheese cloth (I used literally 2 1/2 yards of cheesecloth to do this LOL).<br />Here it is after I strained it several times. It was starting to cool and you can see the wax starting to form around the edges:<br /><br /><br /><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295060646806401122" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ch0Qbn7sWGA/SXvVmpULsGI/AAAAAAAAAU8/j_k47zgQfGU/s320/more+pics+from+camera+077.jpg" border="0" /><br /></div>Here it is fully cooled. It had a heavy layer of wax on top of it. I popped that off with a spatula and had a nice bit of honey under there:<br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295063207769712434" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ch0Qbn7sWGA/SXvX7tpapzI/AAAAAAAAAVE/ka8S25YOQRY/s320/more+pics+from+camera+080.jpg" border="0" /></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div>Because I was exhausted (it was almost midnight by this time) I poured the honey into seven pint jars and put caps on it. I gave 3 to my neighbor with instructions to strain it a few more times after it cooled completely and I went to bed. I strained it probably 3 more times just because I am kinda finicky about stuff and wanted to be sure it was good and clear. I just forgot to take pics of the clear honey and now most of it is gone LOL.<br /><div><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295066521944518098" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ch0Qbn7sWGA/SXva8n6Q7dI/AAAAAAAAAVM/HXQRxxLVQm0/s320/more+pics+from+camera+028.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br /><br /><div></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4902880723202237253-4884192355817131808?l=praisedinthegates.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Shereehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13175554621407051189noreply@blogger.com6