How To Collect Honey Infographic

Honey is a natural sweetener with rich nutrients, concentrated energy sources and ancient folk health care and treatments. Honey is also an active ingredient in beauty and skin care products and the subject of medical research.

Most of the honey you find in grocery stores is pasteurized. The high heat kills unwanted yeast, can improve the color and texture, removes any crystallization, and extends the shelf life. However, many of the beneficial nutrients are also destroyed in the process.

Here is the main steps for collecting honey:

1. First you have to get the bees out of the hive by creating a small smoke fire and hold it or make it close to the hive's entrance hole. This calms the bees and drives many of them out of their hives.

2. You need to open the hive. Depending on the size of the hive, you can use a knife or saw. Be sure to make the opening big enough so that you can put your hand in it, create an opening big enough, and put your hand in the hive.

3. Once you can enter the hive, simply disconnect it from the hive and remove it.

4. Now that you have a hive, you can start separating the hatching cells from the cells that contain honey. You can identify hatching cells by looking at the color. Use your knife to cut down darker egg cells and discard them.

5. Smash/press the honeycomb with a spoon or masher. This will release honey from the comb and it will pass through the filter into the bowl below leaving wax behind the filter.

6. Take a bowl with extracted honey and filter it again. This separates any remaining wax blocks. Finally, place the filtered honey in a jar or bottle for use or storage.