This week, I took photos of
Santropol Roulants honey extraction. I was really excited about this and had never seen the process before. There was a few steps involved which you can read below.
Before honey can be extracted the bees need to be removed. They insert an escape board which allows the bees to go down but not to come back up. We headed to the hive on the roof and checked to see which frames were ready for extraction. There needs to be a nice layer of wax, at least 3/4 of the frame covered before you should remove it. Once the bees are finished with a cell they completely cap it with this wax, its an airtight cap which protects it from bacteria and fungus. When the frames were brought down stairs to the kitchen that wax was gently removed by forks into a plastic container. The frames were then placed in an extractor, this one holds two frames at a time. To remove the honey the extractor is spun gently and then faster in which the honey is flung from the frames into the base of the extractor. The honey is then filtered through some mesh to capture wax and other random debris. Once it has filtered through the mesh, it is then jarred and ready for consumption.
Another interesting fact was how the honey tasted different from area to area depending on the nectar the bees were getting.
Thanks to SR for all the info on bees and the delicious raw honey that I eat everyday.
Here is a closer look at the capped honey.
This is beeswax on top of the frame that is about to be extracted.
This is the extractor.
Uncapped honey ready for extraction.
Spinning the extractor.
Uncapping the honey.
Mesh filtration to capture debris and wax.
Straining out the wax.
©Alison Slattery. All Rights Reserved.
