# Cut Comb Honey Done Well



## Tillie (Apr 26, 2006)

I've read all the previous posts I can find on cut comb honey. What I understand is that I will cut the comb into 4" squares and put it in these plastic boxes with lids that I bought from Brushy Mtn. 

From previous posts I know that the cutter I have will either need to be used carefully to work through the midrib without squashing the comb or simply used as a guide to cut around with a sharp knife a la Michael Bush.

My concern is about draining the honey. Several earlier posts mentioned using a wire cake rack. I can imagine that the wires would imprint into the comb and I don't want that. Michael Bush mentioned in an earlier post that he uses mesh over a cafeteria tray. The physics of that make sense to me in that the screen mesh would distribute the pressure and not imprint like I think a wire cooling rack would.

If I use mesh over a tray or pan, what size screen mesh would one buy and how do you keep it from collapsing into the pan? Is this another of those marvelous uses for duct tape?

Linda T in the N Ga Mountains


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## honeyman46408 (Feb 14, 2003)

I dont do a lot of comb honey but I cut it with a serrated "stake" knife on a stainless stees wire rack (1/4") over a cookie sheet to drain.

I have a square cutter but I dont care for it, so find what works best for you!


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## soupcan (Jan 2, 2005)

*Comb Honey*

We cut several hundred chunks a year. 
We use a white plastic uncapping tank purchased from Dadant's I think. 
A queen excluder fits inside the tank lip. 
Works great for cutting comb. 
I doubt the mesh would be as strong as the excluder. 
Very happy with ours & the ease of clean up.


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## Dan Williamson (Apr 6, 2004)

I use a queen excluder. I cut the pieces on it and let it drain on it. There is no imprint on the wax. I use very little pressure when I cut. I used a serrated bread knife and saw back and forth letting the weight of the blade cut thru the wax. It works quite well.


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## Tillie (Apr 26, 2006)

Now there's a good use for the queen excluder! I've had two for two years and only used it once in a hive where I had two queens and was trying to keep them away from each other.

The serrated bread knife also sounds like a winner.

Well, I'm pulling a super of comb quality honey tomorrow and we'll see how it all works for me.

Linda T back in Atlanta (boo - happier in the N Ga Mtns!)


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## Oldbee (Sep 25, 2006)

OK.........I have a related question. How important is it to "drain" the combs after cutting?? I read about that but when I cut my combs last year I just pushed the comb into the plastic containers. [99% with no "fingerprints"; I used food gloves!!] I tried one; it tastes good to me. I also used the 4" by 4" cutter; it worked fine. I noticed the edges where not "sharpened"; I sharpened with a file. I also heated the cutter in distilled boiling water and shake off the few drops of water. Is this OK.?


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## Tillie (Apr 26, 2006)

I cut mine today - The problem I had was not dripping honey on the already cut squares while cutting the next one. 

I ended up laying the frame on the queen excluder and cutting each square and then lifting the frame up all at the same time. That worked for no drips. Mine is draining now but I have no idea how long it will need to drain. 

This is by far the messiest honey procedure I've done - messier even than using an extractor which was the messiest procedure before today.

I did have fun though and have some beautiful comb - the boxes are in the dishwasher. I put the ends of the frames (sometimes I couldn't cut from end to end because I had damaged the comb in moving it around) in bottles for chunk honey and crushed the rest to make the liquid honey to go around it. So all in all I had a great afternoon!

Linda T typing with sticky fingers in Atlanta


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## Oldbee (Sep 25, 2006)

"the boxes are in the diswasher".??? Why?? My combs in the plastic boxes have only about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of liquid honey. Is this for "show"?; to have as little as possible of liquid honey surrounding the comb in the boxes??.


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## Tillie (Apr 26, 2006)

I don't know - I thought everything that came from some production company needed to be washed before putting food into it - I wash all the bottles in the dishwasher before I bottle the honey - so the boxes were produced in some factory as well, so I washed them - they say they are reusable which implies they can be washed.

I do think the draining is so that there is no 1/4 - 1/2 inch of liquid honey in the box. It's supposed to be to show off the comb and not have it with liquid on it. But what do I know - this is the VERY FIRST time I've ever tried this.


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## Oldbee (Sep 25, 2006)

I put my "honey bears" in very hot water and shook them out; some warped. I put my glass jars in boiling hot [distilled] water and dry in oven; not long. The covers were dipped briefly in boiling water; I hope the little moisture "evaporated". "I thought everything that came from some production company needed to be washed before putting food into it". I do to. With all the different containers; glass, plastic, covers, etc. it would make me dizzy to "sterilize" everything or give up beekeeping. I have read that most "containers" are blown [cleaned] out with a blast of air.


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## Jesus_the_only_way (Mar 17, 2006)

I always run everything through the dishwasher before I use it. I didn't personally see anyone else clean them, so I assume they need to be cleaned.
Besides it's just good business practice when dealing with something that is to be eaten. Better safe than sorry.
Tom


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## Tillie (Apr 26, 2006)

Well, I finished this fun but extremely messy event. I documented the whole thing in a slide show:

http://beekeeperlinda.blogspot.com/2007/07/cutting-and-boxing-cut-comb-honey.html

If you see the slides and have suggestions for improvement, I'd love to know how to do it better. 

Linda T sticky and learning more about beekeeping by the day in Atlanta


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## Oldbee (Sep 25, 2006)

Tillie: Just a note to say that I went to your site and viewed the slides. Last year was the first year I did this. I did buy a rack for draining but after the first frame it was one of those things [yeah! messy] where I said; I can't do this!!. The comb was given to friends and relatives mostly. The photo that shows using the cutter as a guide looks like it would be a bit awkward; cutting on the INSIDE of the guide? Would the cutter make enough of an indentation on the surface of the comb? Also, one needs to lift up the comb with some kind of "spatula" to transfer to box; therefore cutting into the bottom cappings a bit, right? I am going to ask questions about draining at the farmers markets. Anyway, I enjoy your blog and get many good ideas.


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## Dan Williamson (Apr 6, 2004)

Oldbee said:


> "the boxes are in the diswasher".??? Why?? My combs in the plastic boxes have only about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of liquid honey. Is this for "show"?; to have as little as possible of liquid honey surrounding the comb in the boxes??.


I drain mine and save the drippings honey for myself. When I sell it people have made comments that mine looks neater/cleaner than what someone is selling at a farm stand in the next town over. I haven't seen it myself but I'm assuming they don't drain it. 

The problem with NOT draining it is that if it gets tipped a little to one side the honey can run up the sides and/or get on the lid giving it a messy appearance. It will not taste any differently but its all in the presentation to some folks.


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## Tillie (Apr 26, 2006)

I cut on the inside of the cutter because when I cut on the outside of the cutter, the pieces were too big to fit into the box. Guess I should explain that on the slide show. It wasn't too difficult, but I have a wonderful knife. 

The hardest part was finding a way not to drip on previously cut squares, but when I placed the frame on the rack and then cut, I could lift the frame all at once without dripping on anything I was draining.

I left them draining for about 8 hours and didn't have too much trouble with the spatula. I quickly found the the spatula would pick up the square with no damage if I slid it in the direction of the wires on the rack. Going 90 degrees to the wires was awkward and damaged comb.

There was more pick-up damage when I tried lifting them with my hands because I made little indentations in the side of the square. So it was the spatula all the way for me.

I put the drained honey in the strainer bucket with the left overs cut off of the frame after I cut the squares and filled chunk honey bottles with that. 

Linda T learning as she goes in Atlanta


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## Apuuli (May 17, 2006)

We use the metal cookie cutter thing to make an outline on one side which we then cut out using dental floss (non-mint  ). We've used the cutter both heated and cool and it doesn't seem to make a difference. Following the outline with a knife should be just as easy and much less awkward then trying to cut inside of the cutter. 

Once the comb has drained, we just put the boxes over the comb sections and flip the entire draining rack over, thus avoiding the whole spatula problem. Plus this technique provides an opportunity for a horrifically slapstick mishap.


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## Tillie (Apr 26, 2006)

I love this forum for all the helpful information. The idea of using the cutter to make an outline makes so much more sense than cutting on the inside of it! Thanks, Apuuli.

I'm trying to get how the flipping the rack over would look. I imagine putting the boxes over the comb sections and then putting a second rack over the whole thing as one would a cake cooling on a wire rack. Then carefully holding the two racks together, flipping the whole kit and kaboodle over, hoping not to have one of the horrifically slapstick mistakes to which you refer. Is that the idea???

Linda T back in Atlanta


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## Apuuli (May 17, 2006)

That's pretty much the idea but because the racks are slippery metal I don't use a top rack and usually just hold the boxes and the rack together with my hands. Small rack, big hands and only 3 or 4 sections at a flip. I'm sure using a second rack or cutting board or something of that ilk would probably work better, but then I'd have to wash honey off yet another thing in the kitchen!


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## Tillie (Apr 26, 2006)

So as I think about it, I think since waiting for only 3 or 4 sections to drain on my queen excluder would take too much time. If I did more than that, I'd probably put the covers over the cut squares and then put a dishtowel over the whole group to cut slippage, then put the second queen excluder and flip it. 

I'll bet that will work. I'll try it and let you know. We are about through with the honey for this year and the only super I still haven't harvested needs to be done with crush and strain, but if any of the frames in it look quality enough to cut comb, I'll try this again. Otherwise I'll have to store all of this new wisdom until next year!

Linda T in Atlanta


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## katmike (Apr 29, 2005)

I've always wanted to try this too. I wondered if frozen comb would cut easier and be less messy to deal with since the honey is cold. No one has mentioned this... so I assume there's a reason not to freeze it?


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## Tillie (Apr 26, 2006)

I'm not sure about frozen comb - I find wax gets quite brittle when frozen, but don't know about wax with honey in the cells. I personally didn't find it hard to cut when I had just taken it off of the hive, but I have a wonderful knife. Also the warm honey will drain quicker and I wanted to box it as soon as possible, but this is the first time I've tried this, and you can see from my earlier posts that I am learning by doing.

I boxed mine and THEN froze it.

Maybe someone with more experience will comment on the frozen vs. not issue.

Linda T in Atlanta


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## GaSteve (Apr 28, 2004)

I have tried to cut frozen cut comb with a knife and about snapped by knife blade in the process. The wax is extremely brittle when frozen. Bumping the frozen cappings will knock them off essentially uncapping those cells. I did notice that when moving the frozen frames around, sometimes the frozen honey would fall out of some cells in little hexagonal "honey-sicles". There has to be a marketing idea there somewhere.


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## Beekeeper1958 (Sep 25, 2006)

*TBH Honey*

Just took a frame of honey from my TBH and cut it.
It's at least 2 times as thick as regular super comb honey.
Not complaining though as I give smaller amounts away of it versus regular cut comb because of the size.
Fantastic taste.
This is my 1st year doing a TBH.
I was inspired by Michael Bush's site. Thanks Michael!


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## [email protected] (Aug 1, 2004)

*cut comb honey*

Well, we run 60-70 supers a year for cut comb and use it solely for chunk honey. I'll try to help with the procedures.

First, as to the dishwasher. Great idea. The boxes are made of polystyrene and a light release agent is necessary to get them out of the mold. Same agent is used to get glass jars out of their molds. The dishwasher detergent gets rid of the release agent and makes the polystyrene/glass considerably more 'brilliant'.

We cut the comb with a knife but often mark with a 4 x 4 'cutter'. We have two huge pans, one about 2' wide and 15' long and the other 2' wide and 6' long. We leave about 12" at one end to stand empty frames to drain, and cover the rest with 8 mesh hardware cloth. Let drain overnight.

Why drain...because if you don't the loose honey will granulate weeks or months before the honey in the comb. This looks terrible and may make your product unsaleable. The liquid honey will also 'leak', but someone else mentioned that all ready.

You have produced a premium product, please don't mess it up by trying to sell it on top of liquid honey!

As to chunk honey...after the chunk is put in the jar the jar is filled with honey that has been gently heated to retard granulation (and then cooled to less than 130 degrees). If honey from the chunk is allowed to be in the jar that honey will quickly cause the whole thing to granulate. A sorry sight.

Hope this helps,

Lloyd


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## Oldbee (Sep 25, 2006)

[email protected]: You seem to be the expert for "comb honey". I just examined my comb honey in the plastic containers from last summer and don't see any crystallization. It was NOT drained. This may depend on the type of nectar/honey that was harvested. I see only 1/4 inch of liquid honey. I don't have a "dishwasher" so would dipping the plastic containers in hot, boiling? distilled water be sufficient? When filling other plastic containers [HONEY BEARS ETC.] with honey it is not always practical to immerse in boiling water because they will warp and hard to dry out.


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