Soon it will be the coldest day of the year in the Southern Hemisphere!   

Help with processing honey
Lots of different ways and means have been used to harvest, extract, process and bottle honey. Even the packaging of honey differs greatly. Most importantly is that honey itself is packaged by the bees resulting in different varieties!    

What about honey granulising? 
We spoke above about different types of honey varieties. I recently did a bee talk for a school to a class of grade 1's who asked, "why does honey have different tastes and colours?" To which I replied that honey is made from nectar and the nectar comes from the flowers the bees are visiting.
             
Each flower will have its own type of nectar and different plants will make the honey taste differently too. Colours can range from a very light white wine type colour to almost black like molasses. Tastes are something altogether enthralling. Due to the variety of flowers and plants and trees that honey bees visit distinct tastes normally occur when the underlying crop or plants are overwhelmingly represented.     

Let's talk details!     
Starting with avocados, the honey tastes great but is very dark. Sunflower honey in comparison is light and smooth. The challenge with sunflower honey is that it granulises or crystallises within a matter of weeks. 
 
This is simply the natural way that honey preserves itself - the only food matter that can do this on its own - and granulised honey has been discovered in tombs of Egyptian Pharoahs that was 1000 year's old. Amazingly, it was still edible!  

If you are a beekeeper though this poses a problem when it comes time to package honey into jars, buckets and bottles. Sunflower honey goes hard as butro in the fridge when it granulises! Imagine you now try to bottle this honey?       

We recently found ourselves with buckets of granulised Acacia honey in South Africa in winter season. Using a honey heating tank with a 1-inch ball valve tap, we heated the honey to 38 degrees (the internal hive climate is about 36 degrees) to liquify it. 
 
This method of reheating does not damage the honey nutrients or enzymes at all when compared to commercial bottlers that flash heat the honey to about 65 degrees before cooling it quickly to ensure that the crystals that bind to preserve honey in this fashion break. This process of flash heating damages enzymes and nutrients and of course halts the preservation process that would otherwise cause honey to granulise on the shelves.       

What to look out for when choosing your honey?  
Check the origin of the honey. Labelling regulations require that the origin of the honey be displayed as well as the source of the majority of the nectar such as blue gum or sunflower. 

If the honey label says it has been irradiated or radiated this means it has been imported. It also means it had to undergo gamma ray treatment to kill any living organism inside the honey. Avoid honey that requires this type of treatment. Rather find a local beekeeper or health shop which stocks honey from a local beekeeper supplying honey that originates from your local area or at the most your country. 

Honey should not taste bland or singular. It should represent the source of the nectar it came from. If it is honey sourced from sunflower there should be a hint of sunflower seed taste on your tongue. Macadamia honey is slightly nutty. Citrus honey has a citrus after taste. Each nectar source is distinct in taste and honey that doesn't reflect this should consider further investigation into its origin. Some bottlers will combine honey sourced from different nectar base and you get a singular bland taste like syrup. 

When you next buy honey the flavours should be delicious and distinct. Explore and track down a local beekeeper to purchase your honey from and benefit from the raw honey packed with flavour and natural goodness all intact!