storing honey

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grahambee

House Bee
Joined
Sep 12, 2010
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Location
Hampshire uk
Hive Type
National
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I have just taken off a full super with frames of cut comb. I am not going to cut it till next March/April . So where is the best place to store it?
 
Can you cut it then store in freezer?
Storing any frames of honey there is a risk of waxmoth messing some up.
 
I have just taken off a full super with frames of cut comb. I am not going to cut it till next March/April . So where is the best place to store it?

I assume that you are processing this for food consumption, is it for you or for sale?

If the latter then I think that Environmental Health would want it "processed" and in a proper storage container or the final packaging immediately so that you maintain the "chain of custody" (?). i.e. you can account for exactly where each element of the final product had been. You might get away with wrapping each frame with cling film and then sealing in an airtight container (but these have to be proper containers and not old ice cream tubs washed up by you.)

I think they would regard popping the entire super in a freezer wrapped in a black bin bag as insufficient as you do not know what else is in the super and bin bags are not food storage grade covering.

There is no need to freeze the product as I suspect that this would spoil the finished look of it. It is usually stored and displayed at room temperature so the most you would need to do would be put it in a chiller cabinet?
 
There is no need to freeze the product as I suspect that this would spoil the finished look of it. It is usually stored and displayed at room temperature so the most you would need to do would be put it in a chiller cabinet?

Comb honey in commercial amounts IS actually stored deep frozen. It has two positive effects. It stops crystallisation and kills off any wax moth eggs or larvae (assuming no adult moths but they would die too.)

Two years ago we received a contract extracting job to process 40 tonnes of comb honey that had been in frozen store for three years. It was in excellent condition. The owner had a contract for comb for one of the biggest packers in the land (for chunk honey) but they did not take it all and this residual stock remained, the bulk honey market moved up, so it was then economic for the guy to buy it back, extract it, and sell it on in that form.

The secret to keeping it looking good is to seal it in plastic when nice and dry and cool (lower humidity the better) and freeze it. When needed you bring it out of the freezer and allow it to warm up gently, say inside a polystyrene box, all the time remaining sealed. Its condensation on the cold surface that can make the cappings look wet, even after the water has gone. Once it is at room temp its just about as perfect as the day you took it from the bees.

Keeping at ambient temp is just about the worst you can do, honey crystallises most rapidly at around 15C. For the relatively short period you want to store it, so long as it is a slow crystallising honey, such as borage or pure ling heather, then it should be OK anyway, but most UK honey types are not so good in that respect as their FG (fructose/glucose) ratio is too low.
 
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