# Comb Honey



## shepherd (Feb 1, 2006)

Any opimions on the ross rounds vs bee-o-pac vs cut comb out there. I am getting a ton of requests for comb honey and am trying to investigate the different systems with regard to cost, which the bee's like better, ease, etc. Thank ewe!!


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## BjornBee (Feb 7, 2003)

I prefer the much lower cost of producing, the easier manufactured, and the just as big in demand item...that being chunk honey in the jar.

It may not be in your area, but I can never produce enough chunk honey in the jar. Much easier to produce, less waste if they don't draw it out correctly (honey super will just be another honey super), and I can produce as much or as little as I choose with no additional equipment from what I already have.

Here is a 1 pound jar....

http://s186.photobucket.com/albums/x236/BjornBee/?action=view&current=beepictures033.jpg


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## Dan Williamson (Apr 6, 2004)

I'm with Bjorn on the chunk honey jars.

I didn't make Cut comb this year in trays. I produced Ross Rounds instead. I like RR and will do those again next year. 

The cut comb supers all went into Chunk honey pints. I've completely sold out of both already. Next year I'll be doubling my production of comb honey. 

In the past, I haven't had much demand for comb honey so didn't produce much. I think I had around 70 pints of chunk this year. I don't have the # of RR in front of me. Anyway, I couldn't believe how fast it moved this year. 

Last year I had cut comb and chunk honey jars next to each other on my table. The chunk honey jars always went first.


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## Brandy (Dec 3, 2005)

I found the best system for me was just using the cut comb "thin" foundation in the medium frames. I marked those frames amoung my other med. super frames and as soon as they were drawn out and capped took them out and cut into nice sections. The extra pieces were packed into chunk honey jars. Definitely worth doing again and without the extra expense of the Ross Round costs.


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## Joel (Mar 3, 2005)

I've done rounds, also did Basswood boxes for years (Too many). Both are labor intensive, difficult to get bees to work and uneccessarily expensive and difficult to handle (by the customer. Our demand has jumped the last couple of years as well and we've gone to all cut comb, well drained, placed in clear plastic boxes and frozen until sale. It has been extremely popular and the bees fill it quickly.


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## Panhandle Bee man (Oct 22, 2003)

Cheapest is cut comb, you can package it like Joel does, or like Bjorn does in chunk honey, or both. If after a few years you decide that you don't want to sell comb honey anymore the supers can be used for extracted honey.

I like Ross rounds, and basswood squares, it is more difficult to get it fully drawn out, more expensive, and if you decide that you don't have the customer base for comb honey, then you are out a larger ammount of money. 

I have heard nothing good about the bee-o-pac system. Sounds like a great idea, but in the real world, the results don't equal the idea.

If I was trying out comb honey, not sure of the market, I would go with cut comb, buy the more expensive containers to market it, and put a portion into chunk honey also. After a year or two, you will know if there is a strong preference to one way or the other, a larger market than you anticipated, or smaller market than anticipated, then you can adjust production accordingly.


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## bleta12 (Feb 28, 2007)

*comb honey*

Very good advice, first test the market and grow with it. I have been producing comb honey for years now, I remember the days I had to explain to people how to eat it, still do some explaining but the sales have gone up every year.
If you want to try chunk honey, make sure that the honey around the comb is heated to 150 for a short time and then you bottle this honey when the temp. goes dawn, probably 135, the real temp. varies with the temp of the comb honey, the idea is to pour hot honey in the jar but not hot enough to melt the comb, it is a balancing act. The idea is to prevent crystallization of the honey around the comb, which will ruin the appeal and slow or stop sales.

Gilman





Panhandle Bee man said:


> Cheapest is cut comb, you can package it like Joel does, or like Bjorn does in chunk honey, or both. If after a few years you decide that you don't want to sell comb honey anymore the supers can be used for extracted honey.
> 
> I like Ross rounds, and basswood squares, it is more difficult to get it fully drawn out, more expensive, and if you decide that you don't have the customer base for comb honey, then you are out a larger ammount of money.
> 
> ...


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## shepherd (Feb 1, 2006)

*comb honey*

The market will be there for all I can produce for comb honey. Not sure about the chunk as the store has not requested it. They are currently selling RR for $10.99 each, all they can get!


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## ScadsOBees (Oct 2, 2003)

bleta12 said:


> The idea is to prevent crystallization of the honey around the comb, which will ruin the appeal and slow or stop sales.
> 
> Gilman


It seems to me so far that chunk honey crystallizes slower than regular. Maybe I'm just imagining it, it is only my first year with chunk honey. I can't imagine why...

Another option is just to keep it in the freezer. It won't crystallize there, and you don't have to heat the honey then.

Rick


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## bleta12 (Feb 28, 2007)

The flower source of the honey, moisture, temperature and time are the factors that influence the crystallization. 
If you sell the chunk honey few days after you bottle it in the fall, and the customer consumes it in the same week, crystallization is not a problem. 

Freezing the honey may be impractical for large amounts.

Heating it is the way to do it, will kill a bit the flavor of the liquid honey, but it makes it more appealing.

Gilman




ScadsOBees said:


> It seems to me so far that chunk honey crystallizes slower than regular. Maybe I'm just imagining it, it is only my first year with chunk honey. I can't imagine why...
> 
> Another option is just to keep it in the freezer. It won't crystallize there, and you don't have to heat the honey then.
> 
> Rick


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## Grant (Jun 12, 2004)

98% of my comb honey is sold in wide mouth pints with honey poured around the chunk of cut comb honey. I sell it for $6.50 retail.

I sell a few RR cassettes at $4.50, mostly at the farmer's markets and that's seasonal. I do some basswood boxes for those customers that remember the good old days, but packaging is still my largest problem. I use a clear plastic clamshell. Not very strong and too big, but it had to be big to fit the basswood square.

I continue to try and fool my bees into accepting Bee-o-pac. Still working on it.

I really like RR, and my bees do too. Cut comb is the cheapest and easiest. What you decide to do will be driven by what your customers want. I mark my frames of thin surplus 
with a thumbtack on top of the top bar.

Grant
Jackson, MO http://www.MakingPlasticFramesWork.homestead.com


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## Dan Williamson (Apr 6, 2004)

I've never heated my honey prior to putting it into chunk jars. 

At harvest time I take the cut comb supers off and we do a sort of production line. I cut all of the comb out of the frames in one solid block and get as many full frame size blocks on the table as possible all on wax paper. Then I have a template that I can quickly hold up to to comb and cut a large piece that will fit in my jar from top to bottom. While I'm cutting the comb to size my wife is getting all the chunk jars ready. After all pieces are cut I begin filling the jars with comb. Then my wife puts on the lid and checks for any sticky drips on the outside and packs them into boxes. When done we put all the cases of cut comb into the freezer.

Then when ready to fill I take what is needed out 24-48hrs beforehand and let it gradually warm up to room temp and then bottle.

Some people just love it. I had one woman buy a pint jar of chunk honey from me every weekend for 2 months.


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## Joel (Mar 3, 2005)

{Freezing the honey may be impractical for large amounts.}

If your going to do Comb honey in any amount some type of dedicated freezer is a good investment both for preservation and for wax moth damage prevention.

We have an upright freezer dedicated to nothing but pollen and comb honey. Freezing honey (and pollen) to be sold as comb (other than chunk) is important. Unfotunately comb honey that has not been frozen is frequently subject to wax moth damage.


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## bleta12 (Feb 28, 2007)

*frizing comb*

I do have two freezers that can freeze 200 12 oz cut comb at a time each. Two days in the freezer is enough to ensure from any moth damage. I do produce few thousands of cut comb a year. Late summer these freezers are very busy.
I do produce few hundreds of cases of chunk honey on 2 sizes. I do not freeze this comb, I cut it, let it drain overnight and bottle it with heated honey.

Gilman


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