My honey has gone hard an crystallised. Is it still ok to eat?

Absolutely, this is a natural process that all pure honey which is free from additives such as sugar syrup or corn syrup naturally occurs. Each honey has a different rate of crystallisation due to the variety of honey and the conditions in which the honey was produced. For example a honey produced in drought will naturally go candy at a slower rate them the same variety produced in a wet period, this has something to do with the bees naturally fanning the moisture content out. All pure honey will eventually go candy, often as the weather gets colder the rate of crystallisation will increase.

You can eat crystalised honey just as it is, but you prefer a runnier consistency, simply place your honey in a sunny spot or in a bowl of warm water.

Fun Fact: Archaeologists have found pots of honey in ancient Egyptian tombs that are over 3000 years old and still perfectly edible due to its crystallisation. There were over 2000 jars of preserved honey found in the tomb of king hut because they believed it would ensure that they would have food in the afterlife.

Where do we sourced our honey from?

As beekeepers its our job to keep our hives healthy, a part of this is making sure they have a constant flow of nectar and pollen where possible as this is essential for breeding strong healthy new bees. As Eucalypt trees and ground flora naturally have different flowering cycles it is part of the beekeepers job to scout out new budding flowers and use their knowledge to choose a suitable location to place their bees. Flowering patterns can range from yearly blossoming all the way up to once every 10 years and are also affected by weather events, this is why we have seasonal varieties.

We are located at Yatte Yattah, on the NSW south coast but can travel anywhere up to a 6 hour radius to collect honey. Each location of every variety collected can be found in the description in our shop.

What is the difference between honey varieties?

Every plant produces a different nectar, which produces a different honey, this has an affect on the colour, flavour and viscosity (thickness). Each season can also naturally slightly change the honey produced.

How do we extract our honey?

We produce and pack all our honey here, in our shed at Yatte Yattah which includes the extraction process.

The extraction process includes;

• Removing the honey supers - Honey Supers are full boxes of honey that are removed from the hive once all the honey is capped off. Don’t worry we always leave honey on our bees to ensure their survival but swap out the full boxes with empty boxes to allow the bees more space. All bees are removed from the box carefully before it is placed on pallets which is placed on our truck.

• Removing the wax capping’s - Once the boxes are back at our shed we can extract the honey. First we scape all the extra wax off the top and bottom of the frames and then uncap the honey by placing the frames in an uncapping machine which removes the wax seals which is essential for allowing the honey to come out of the frames.

• extract the honey - Once the capping’s have been removed we place each frame into our honey extractor, which uses centrifugal force to spin the honey out of the frames leaving only empty cells for the bees to fill again.

• Strain the honey - After the honey is spun out of the frames we pump the honey through strainers not filters to remove any impurities such as wax or other debris.

• Pack the honey - Once strained, our honey is drummed where is can be later packed into our jars and buckets for consumption.

How do we make creamed honey?

Creamed honey or whipped honey, is honey that has a smooth and creamy texture which is easily spread. Creamed honey involves taking a small amount of candied honey and beating it in a large mixer create a fine granule which acts as a ‘seed’ to set the remaining liquid honey. This mixture undergoes a process of been whipped and but into a fridge multiple times to fold air into the honey, turning it white. This is a similar process to making boiled lollies. One the desired amount of air is folded into the creamed honey we jar it and place it into a fridge to set which keeps the air suspended. Once set the creamed honey has a smooth, creamy texture which is ready for sale and consumption.

Creamed honey is more expensive due to this long process.