Yesterday I did something what I already wanted to do for a long long long time. Making honey! Johan from Tera Barra invited me to join the honey process. Johan makes cold extracted local Bonairian honey. This means that the honey is taken from the hives with no heat applied. The process is very easy, but time consuming. I am really surprised by the bees. It’s very fascinating to see how they make there honeycomb. Several combs are held in a wooden frame, see pictures. You also see a difference in color, the darker the color the older the honey.
A honeycomb is a mass of hexagonal prismatic wax cells built by honey bees in their nests to contain their larvae and stores of honey and pollen. They are so smart that they built hexagons, imagine if they built it with circles, that doesn’t work, because then there are gaps in the honeycomb.
Johan has a machine to spin the honey out of the frames and the wooden frames will be re-used by the bees. But before we put the frames in the drum, you need to take off the first layer of bee wax, so you open the wax cells. The honey is then already dripping out. First you do one side of the wooden frame, and when this is empty (used in the drum), you open the cells on the other side. When the honey has reached a certain level in the drum, you open the tap and the honey is running out, very rewarding!
Johan is also removing bee nests in the wild. If you would like to make honey from these nests you need to squeeze the honey out by hand instead of using the drum. The honey in the jar (see picture) is from a bee nest in Hato, Bonaire, approximately 3 years old. The taste of the honey is like syrup, its delicious.
Thank you Johan for all the information and the invite, would love to help you more often! The Bonarian honey is for sale @ Greenlabel Bonaire.
Johan is from Tera Barra, please check the Facebook for more information about the Native Garden. Johan is always looking for volunteers, let’s make Bonaire more beautiful!
Made by Laine 