Food network show

[Greg Peck]

I just got done watching a show on the food network about honey. The Lady went to a beekeeper in Hawaii and they showed her how to extract honey. It was strange to me but maybe the normal in commercial beekeeping.

They took the supers off the hives and smacked/banged then on some apparatus a few times to knock the bees out then stacked the supers on a truck. It sure did not seem like they were getting many bees out of the supers, there had to be a lot left in there. Thats got to be a mess back at the honey house.

Then they extracted the honey in the super. They took the frames out, uncapped them and put them back into the super, then placed the supers in the extractor and extracted the honey. Seemed weird with the whole super in the extractor. I am sure I am just out of the loop about commercial beekeeping but I thought it was funny.

All in all the show was ok. every product they showed honey being used in it was cooked in some way. I guess it is the food network.

[annette]

That sounds very interesting and I would sure love to have an extractor big enough for a whole super. Amazing!!! They probably extracted with a few bees clinging to the supers.

[Flygirl]

Seems like it would be very messy with extracted honey all over the inside of the supers?  I guess the bees would clean it up.  What about all the dead bee body "byproduct" (guts)  that would end up in the honey.  Yuk.  Is that why the commercial producers heat the honey?

Curious~  FG

[bassman1977]

I would like to see that myself.  The commercial beeks I know of take the frames out, uncap and put them in a large extractor.  I have also seen them blow the bees out of the supers with leaf blowers.

[kattz]

I watched the show last night and to me it sure didn’t seem like the Beekeeper operation in Hawaii cared very much about the bees!! They banged the heck out of the supers without any thought about how many bees were being killed every time they banged them,
Then they just threw the supers on the truck and bee’s everywhere you know lots were being smashed just loading the truck.  I wasn’t impressed with the way they ran their operation.
 :-x

[Fish]

I watched the show as well.  It was very misleading.  After viewing the first section in Hawaii you tend to get the impression that all of the honey going into the food we eat "everyday" come from similar sources.  I paused the tv as they dumped the "food grade" (Key words!) honey into a large tank.  The label on the honey stated countries of origin as the USA, Vietnam, China, India.  I think I am missing one more country but you get the picture.  The majority of the honey in the food industry does not come from the United States like the show would have you believe.  You could devote a lot of time and posts to the practices of commercial beekeepers in other parts of the world.  Let's just say it is less than desirable. 
They show did reveal how often they heat the honey in their manufacturing process.  It must be done in order for the honey to move through the tubes along the production line with gumming up.  I wonder what the constant heating and reheating does to the flavor and value of the honey?

[randydrivesabus]

the cream soda sure looked good. i want some.

[annette]

From what I have been reading here on this forum, the heating of the honey destroys the nutritional value of the honey and ruins the taste also.

If I have to purchase any honey I only purchase organic honey or from local beekeepers that I know of. I am amazed of what I have learned about the world of honey which seems very little regulation.

Now I am a honey snob!!

[jason58104]

I feel that the PBS documentary on honeybees gave a much better feel for what the small beekeeper does and the love of the bees that we all have.  I am not a big fan of PBS but I think they did a great job on that program

[jason58104]

PS    I am a honey snob too

[Shawn]

WOW, I didnt think this many people would have seen the show. I saw it too. I didnt understand why they would put the whole super in the extractor and not just the frames. You would think the super would be covered in honey by the time they got done. And did tey ever bang the boxes toghether and dump the bees out. Im sure my girls would take me over them any day.