From bee to bottle
Clarissa gouw 18012863
Beeology
Honey production is a self-sustaining system due to it being completely natural phenomenon of a honey bee’s life. In this operation, there are 3 types of bees; female worker bees, male drones and the queen bee. The male drone bees are the only male specimen in the hive and their only job is to mat with the queen to reproduce more bees. The queen bee is in charge of producing eggs and releasing pheromones to control the social structure of the hive. The female worker bees have a wide range of jobs such as cleaning, building new combs, taking care of the larvae, defending the hive and collecting honey, pollen, water and propolis (WDBA, 2018).
There are many factors such as the geographical floral origin, season, environmental factors and treatment of beekeepers that influence the characteristics of the honey produced as not all honey is the same. The colours can range between pale yellow to a dark red (almost black) amber. The colour variation is dependent on the floral nectar that the bees gathered and a little on the climate due to heat exposure. The flavour and aroma of honey have a larger variation than its appearance where there can be an infinite number of different tasting honeys. This again is dependent on the floral source, generally with paler honey’s having a mild flavour and darker honey having a more concentrated flavour (White & Doner, 1980). Manuka honey is made with the nectar from white blossoms of the mānuka bush (Leptospermum scoparium). This type of honey is notorious in New Zealand and southern parts of Australia as it produces a rich, amber-coloured honey with a strong aromatic flavour and incredible antibacterial properties (Gillingham, 2008).
Honey Harvesting
The only maintenance of the supers (man-made beehives) is for the weather to be in favourable conditions for sourcing nectar and that there is enough space to cultivate honey. A hive of bees will continue this process of collecting and ripening without limit in order to survive during the unfavourable conditions of winter. This plays into the favour of honey harvesting for business as beekeepers take advantage of this behaviour by purposely expanding the hives’ capacity in order to increase the yield of honey harvested.
Bees require sufficient time to produce high quality honey to be harvested. This means reducing the moisture content of the nectar to less than 18% and other required actions. When the honey is harvested too early, it runs the risk of the honey being fermented. If at least 75% of the honeycomb cells are capped, this means that the moisture levels are low which is harvest ready. The end of the season is when all flowers have blossomed, thus maximising the nectar intake and honey yield. This however overlaps with cold weather conditions, running the risk of marauding bees robbing other hives. Beekeepers have to assist the worker bees in defending the hives in this case. If treatments for the bees’ health are being used, many are temperature sensitive therefore leaving the harvesting until the end of the season could have a negative effect on the quality of honey produced. It could also mean that the bees would not have enough honey to last them through the winter.(Conrad, 2016)
Once the honey has ripened enough, the gathering process is then split into two parts; isolation and extraction.This entire process is a zero-waste, eco-friendly and all natural process that benefits both the environment and human health. Thus is an industry worth investing in for increasing New Zealand’s food and beverage exports.
isolation
Before beekeepers can collect the honey or move the hives, they must relax the bees using smoke. Because of the bees’ natural instincts, beekeepers are considered as a threat to the hive, thus “guard bees will release a chemical called isopentyl acetate (also called isoamyl acetate) to alert the middle-aged bees (which have the most venom) to defend the hive by attacking the intruder.” Smoke helps them relax as they interfere with the bees’ receptors, hence unable to alert the other bees. The smoke also causes the bees to overeat the honey in case they have to relocate, which calms them down (Gillingham, 2008).
Extraction
This process has to be done quickly and efficiently in a closed environment in order to prevent bees from detecting the honey and swarming the area (Caughey, 2013). The frames are removed from the supers and taken into a closed kitchen, where the uncapping of honey takes place using either a capping knife or capping fork. Once the frames have been de-capped, it exposes the honey that has ripened and can start attracting the bees. The frame gets placed into an extractor (centrifuge) where it uses centrifugal force to extract the honey. It runs down the barrel and through a “ very fine screen (200 Micron).” This is to separate any impurities such as parts of a bee, extracting pure honey. Pollen particles do get through the screen however they contribute to the health benefits of honey. This honey is then bottled and either locally sold or mass industrially sold (Hutson, 2013).
When extracting the honey, some beekeepers leave the comb on the frame to help the next season of honey to occur faster. Other beekeepers cut the combs off of the frame as there are health benefits from the comb as well, this consequently means that the bees would have to rebuild the wax comb on the frames, holding up the process of honey production.
Once all the honey is extracted, the frames are then placed outside where the bees would come and eat the honey that the extractor did not take. This honey would then be brought back to their hives where they will eat and store for the winter season (Hutson, 2013).
Beekeeping
Beekeeping can be considered a hobby for many people as it can be carried out at home with simple equipment. This indicates that the skills required to produce honey is not extensive. However, the knowledge of how it goes from nature to super to bottle is crucial to be able to produce honey of top quality. Understanding how bees work, how certain flowers influence the characteristics of the honey, when to harvest the honey and the optimum environment for the bees are the most important pieces of knowledge. According to careers.govt.nz, there are no prerequisites to be able to have a job as a beekeeper in New Zealand but it is the person’s responsibility to gain experience, responsibility and knowledge about this profession. Apiary managers in charge of the staff and operations could possibly require administration skills and experience. Owner-operator beekeepers manage the hives, provide poilination services and oversee the honey production which could require prior business knowledge. Overall, there are no set requirements of skills to be a beekeeper (Careers NZ, 2018).
Bee Careful!
Manuka honey is one of the most health beneficial types of honey due to all of its antibacterial properties. Honey generally contains more than 180 substances, including amino acids, enzymes, protein, vitamins, minerals, ash, organic acids and phenol compounds (Ouchemoukh et al., 2007 from El Sohaimy et al., 2015). Pollen is inevitably found in the honey after being extracted, however with all of the enhanced health benefits of manuka alone, the addition of pollen to the honey is a big bonus.
The challenges with honey is the constant threat of diseases and pests that will harm the bee population of New Zealand. Contamination from other bugs and airborne bacteria must also be taken into consideration when manufacturing honey (Hooker, 2016). Honey has an acidic pH and reacts with metallic surfaces that may damage and reduce the healing properties of honey. Using metal spoons to dip and scoop the honey has negligible effects because of short temporary contact, but any sort of mass production of the product developed must not use any metallic equipment in order to preserve the high quality of honey (Soh, 2017). Temperature of the environment and the mixture that the honey is incorporated with for the product is another challenge. Temperatures above 42 degrees centigrade will cause the all-important ‘medicinal’ molecular structure of honey to change irrevocably, making it indigestible and could be considered toxic.
Challenges in regards to Manuka honey specifically is that it is New Zealand produced. While this is an advantage in terms of obtaining the honey as it is local, to be able to internationally export the product created from it would increase the mileage on the project, contributing to the carbon emissions and negative global warming effects. This along with the rare and highly desired health enhancing characteristics, causes the product to be a little less affordable for the general public. Some people would recognise the great manuka honey properties and therefore wouldn’t mind spending a little more for the product, however for people who are financially struggling yet sought after the product may not be included in the target market. Because the aim of the project is to double food and beverage exports in New Zealand within ten years, this is a risk that must be considered when developing the product.
Beeswax from the hives are often recycled into new combs for hives, the remainder is used to make soap, candles, furniture polish, cosmetics such as lipsticks and face creams, crayons and chewing gums. This is a very versatile ingredient thus can be found in a wide range of products. It contains non-allergenic conditioning properties that is desired for smooth consistency in products (Gillingham, 2008).
Propolis (or bee glue) is a resinous mixture that honey bees produce using saliva and beeswax with botanical extracts, used as a sealant for unwanted gaps in the hive. Propolis has high levels of bioflavonoids known for boosting the immune system (Gillingham, 2008).
Royal Jelly is the secretion of young bees utilised as food for the queen bee and is a highly sought after ingredient. This creamy-white substance has great health benefits that is often used in human dietary supplements or is processed into skincare products (Gillingham, 2008).
Bee pollen can be sold for its amino acids, minerals and vitamins. It is approximately 40% protein and is considered to contain almost all the nutrients humans need. Around half the protein of pollen can be readily absorbed by the body as they are free amino acids, thus a very desirable trait in honey that contributes to the quality and sale demand (Mercola, 2012).
Apiary operations have many factors to it, including various by products produced aside from the central honey production.
By-Products
References
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