Glacier County Honey - A Tour
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Where we live, we have honey companies that drop off their bees in many of the fields around the county. Seeing the stacks of supers has made me want to see the harvesting process; I finally got my wish this past weekend. We visited the Glacier County Honey Company for their “Fill Your Own Bucket Day”. We bought 20 pounds of honey and sent some back home with my parents for them and for my brothers and sister.
I'm not a HUGE fan of bees! I guess after being stung over fifty times while cutting grass when I was young helped with that. But I do know without busy little honeybees there would be NO honey and we eat A LOT of honey as a family. My husband started me on it and after reading up on the medicinal usage of honey, I try to incorporate more of it in our diet. In fact, I try to eat a tablespoon of honey every day. I know a tablespoon sounds like a lot, but I normally spread three teaspoons throughout the day.
This year, Glacier County Honey is “water white” in color and has the most amazing taste. Honestly, it is the BEST honey I have ever tasted. It has the sweet honey taste without a strong overpowering taste like a lot of honey has. For my southern friends who eat Thistle Honey, it is way better than the thistle and we love thistle honey.
During our visit, we toured the process of extracting honey from the frames. I never thought about having to keep the honey in a very warm room to help with the flow when spinning the frames. In the warming room on Saturday, there was about 30,000 pounds of honey.
I'm not a HUGE fan of bees! I guess after being stung over fifty times while cutting grass when I was young helped with that. But I do know without busy little honeybees there would be NO honey and we eat A LOT of honey as a family. My husband started me on it and after reading up on the medicinal usage of honey, I try to incorporate more of it in our diet. In fact, I try to eat a tablespoon of honey every day. I know a tablespoon sounds like a lot, but I normally spread three teaspoons throughout the day.
This year, Glacier County Honey is “water white” in color and has the most amazing taste. Honestly, it is the BEST honey I have ever tasted. It has the sweet honey taste without a strong overpowering taste like a lot of honey has. For my southern friends who eat Thistle Honey, it is way better than the thistle and we love thistle honey.
During our visit, we toured the process of extracting honey from the frames. I never thought about having to keep the honey in a very warm room to help with the flow when spinning the frames. In the warming room on Saturday, there was about 30,000 pounds of honey.
The frames and honey comb were explained. and we even had a taste test of the honey right off the frame.
In the extracting room we watched frames being uncapped and readied for the spinner. Underneath the uncapping machine was a funnel that caught the wax and honey to be separated and used.
Once the combs were uncapped, the frames were placed in the spinner for spinning the honey out.
We watched two frames of bees work and I even snapped a picture of a new unused frame so you can see what they look like.
I'm sure you are probably wondering what 20 pounds of honey looks like. This is twenty pounds minus 1 cup.
You can read a more indepth EXPLANATION of the extracting of honey at the Glacier County Honey blog.
