Prime summer time.
Sizzling, sunny days, full of the soothing hum of foragers returning to the hive, and of drones loudly leaving searching for love.
Apiary visits are memorable for the sweat-filled gloves, the aching hands from dealing with packed brood frames, and the decrease again ‘twinges’ after including supers to the rising stacks.
Now not such a lot ‘making hay whilst the solar shines’ as ‘making honey whilst the solar shines’.
Or possibly now not.
That is Scotland … it feels just like the Faroe Islands … in November.
The headline temperature (12°C as I write this) is dangerous sufficient, however have a look at the ‘looks like’ temperature.
I have been researching temperature and foraging process for a long run submit, and seven°C is extra in most cases related to ‘cleaning flights’. Even though the bees have been silly sufficient to fly, the temperature-dependence of nectar manufacturing (Plos et al., 2023) would make sure there was once precious-little for them to assemble {{1}}.
Those persistently low temperatures have behind schedule swarming – extra on that subsequent week – and stopped virtually all queen mating (a minimum of in my a part of the arena). Probably the most queens that experience were given mated are already being outdated, possibly as a result of they have been best poorly mated.
Irritating.
However, in spite of all this weather-related woe, honey has been produced 😃.
My spring honey crop was once smartly down on final 12 months, however most probably about reasonable total. I used to be pleasantly shocked making an allowance for the stipulations.
Harvesting the honey was once the standard noisy, sticky, tedious, repetitive procedure, made simply that little bit more straightforward through pre-warming the supers for a couple of days at 37°C and a bangin’ soundtrack of Nineteen Seventies disco ‘ground fillas’.
Uncooked honey, or is it?
Some would possibly believe the Nineteen Seventies disco against the law, however – relying on how I label my honey – the ones pre-warmed supers and next processing, may well be the object that will get me into hassle … with Buying and selling Requirements.
Or may it?
A contemporary court docket case has highlighted the vagueness, ambiguity and unsuitability of the United Kingdom’s honey (labelling) rules.
It will have to be of passion to all beekeepers who produce honey on the market, and could also be notable as being one of the vital few rulings through a pass judgement on that begins with a quote from Winnie the Pooh.
In mild of the ruling at the definition of the time period ‘uncooked’ honey – as that was once what the court docket case was once about – I went again and re-read one of the vital rules. In some circumstances they’re transparent and unambiguous, however in lots of puts they aren’t.
What’s ‘uncooked’ honey?
Can I label my honey with the phrase ‘uncooked’, or does any manipulation of honey – from the hive to the store shelf – depend as processing?
And, if that is so, how a lot processing (and of what kind) may well be allowed with out falling foul of the honey rules?
During which case, may I then use the label ‘uncooked honey’?
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