andysworld!

As the 2024 beekeeping season wraps up, I’m still in the thick of things—extracting honey, and would you believe it, we’ve already sold out again! The demand this year has been incredible, which speaks volumes about the growing appreciation for local, quality honey.

With National Honey Day just around the corner on October 21st, preparations are in full swing. This annual celebration always brings a surge in interest, and it’s the perfect opportunity to showcase the best of this season’s harvest.

Why Beekeeper’s Honey is Superior

One of the key differences between beekeeper’s honey and supermarket honey is how it’s handled after extraction. While large-scale commercial honey is often heavily filtered and pasteurized to give it a longer shelf life and a uniform appearance, this process also removes many of the natural benefits of honey. In contrast, as a beekeeper, I don’t subject my honey to extreme filtration.

By keeping the honey close to its natural state, all of the pollen, enzymes, and beneficial compounds remain intact. This means that my honey retains all of the goodness nature intended, including antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and the natural flavors that reflect the diverse forage the bees have had throughout the season. The pollen in unfiltered honey can even offer some relief to those who suffer from seasonal allergies, as consuming local pollen in small amounts may help build immunity over time.

The Extra Step for Traceability

Unlike some honey packers, I take an additional, time-consuming step to ensure each jar can be tracked and traced back to the exact hive and apiary it was extracted from here in Meltonby. This isn’t a legal requirement, but it’s something I do so my customers know exactly where their jar of honey came from. It’s an important part of transparency, and I believe it builds trust between my customers and me.

When you purchase one of my jars, check the label on the bottom. For example, if you see “H01OCT27,” that jar of honey came from Hive 1, Apiary 2, and has a best-before date of October 2027. This traceability gives you a deeper connection to the honey you’re enjoying, knowing the exact source of your jar.

The Final Preparations

After the hard work of tending the bees and ensuring their health through the ups and downs of the weather, this is the final leg of the journey—filtering and jarring the honey. But when I say “filtering,” it’s a gentle process, just to remove any wax particles or other natural debris from the hive. This leaves all the goodness intact, ensuring the honey is as raw and pure as possible.

Once filtered, it’s on to the jarring. This is where things get exciting as I prepare for the National Honey Day rush! Each jar is carefully filled, labeled, and checked for quality. There’s something deeply satisfying about seeing rows of golden jars, knowing they represent the culmination of months of hard work by both the bees and me.

Get Ready for National Honey Day

With National Honey Day just around the corner, I’m excited to share this year’s harvest with you—just in time for you to enjoy it in its purest form. Whether you drizzle it on toast, stir it into tea, or savor it by the spoonful, you’re tasting the true essence of nature’s work, without any of the goodness filtered out.

And the next time you pick up a jar of honey, ask yourself: Can you trace where it came from? If you’re an existing customer, don’t forget to check the label at the bottom of your jar to see the exact hive and apiary your honey came from. Mark October 21st on your calendars and celebrate with some raw, local honey straight from the hive!