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Bee metagenomics

There’s not much new in beekeeping, but recent developments in advanced DNA technology are allowing scientists to find out more about bees and their environment. It seems bees are ‘passive bioaccumulators’. As they go about their business, they not only gather pollen, nectar, water and propolis, but inadvertently collect other material from whatever they have come into contact with. This all ends up in the honey.

The list of potential uses for this information is extensive. Bee health, foraging habits, the state of the local biodiversity, disease organisms, pesticide residues, and so on. In fact, you could call this information a biological finger print. We already know that honey can tell us the origins of a sample via the analysis of pollen grains, a slow and laborious task. Now, the same information may be found by DNA analysis. This could be cheaper, faster, and more accurate, helping in the fight against honey fraud.

Honey contains DNA traces of a bee’s gut microbiome, which plays an essential part in colony health. This type of analysis may go some way to solving the problem of colony collapse disorder (CCD), still a problem in some parts of the world.

A more ambitious proposal is to use honey to monitor the general biodiversity of landscapes, augmenting the traditional data gathering techniques of field workers. Data banks of honey samples are already being accumulated for this purpose.

Smart hives

As part of a Europe-wide research initiative, the B-GOOD project, researchers from 13 European countries joined forces between mid-2019 and November 2023 to explore how new technologies could help support both the health of bees and the sustainability of beekeeping.

The result is a monitoring system that can identify hive problems and provide advice to beekeepers on interventions. The heart of the system is a ‘digital comb’, a thin circuit board which bees build into the comb. The board contains an array of sensors and there are several boards in a hive, transmitting data to the beekeeper for real-time monitoring.

Further work will be funded until 2027. It is hoped the technology will improve bee health and predict how hives may respond to certain environmental conditions.

LETS SPARKLE

A Talk and Presentation at the December Social meeting 2022
Introduced by Val Bone, with Nick Silver and John Badley. 44 people attended the evening.

Introduction by Val Bone: Our Honey judge at Honiton Show said, ‘Show honey should sparkle’, hence the title. We aim to look at how you go that little bit further to produce honey for the Show table. Just as with livestock at the Show, the competitors spend time turning an everyday animal into a perfectly washed, groomed and polished specimen. It’s the same with honey. We have on show two perfectly good, wholesome jars of honey straight from stock, but how do you achieve that little extra to present it as ‘Show Honey’? Nick will now take you through those steps to produce the SPARKLE!

Nick. Processing Run Honey

The schematic below shows the steps necessary for processing run honey. Liquifying (if the honey is set), straining to remove debris, settling to remove bubbles and conditioning to produce the sparkle.

How much heating?

Honey subjected to heating will produce a breakdown substance called hydroxymethylfurfuraldehyde (HMF) which has a legal limit in honey of 40mg/kg honey. The graph below shows the relationship between Time and Temperature. Following the blue dashed lines, a temperature of 40°C for c9days will reach the 40mg limit, whereas a temperature of 50°C will only take 2-3 days to reach the same amount. At 60°C the safe limit is well under 1 day!

Liquify

This can be achieved by either heating in a warming cabinet (below left) or a bain marie (below right). Stirring occasionally will speed up the process. Hooper suggests 52°C for 2 days. Basterfield Honey Farm suggest ‘up to 50°C’

Strain

For the hobbyist beekeeper, straining immediately the honey is removed from the hive and spun from the frames is an easy option (below left). The honey is still warm so will flow through your straining system easily. Double stainless sieves recommended (coarse followed by fine) as they can be quickly washed and dried if blocking occurs.

Straining liquified honey can cause problems with sugar crystals blinding the mesh. The heated sieve (below right) is a useful piece of kit for speeding up the operation. The heated conical mesh is 350 micron, followed by a 200 micron straining cloth over the settling tank.

Settle

Settling allows any bubbles to rise to the top of the tank prior to bottling. Without settling your honey jars will look like the example on the left. Settling should produce sparkling honey shown on the right. Hooper suggests ’24 hours in a tall, narrow tank’.

Condition

Conditioning removes all the remaining tiny crystals and will ensure clear sparkling run honey for 3-6 months. Hooper recommends 62°C for 1 hour. Basterfield Honey Farm recommend 62°C for 30 mins.

See images below. In either case, add the water to just below the lid. Jars should not sit directly on a hot metal container. Cool rapidly after heating.

John. Hints and Tips for Award-winning Honey

What is the Judge looking for?

Read the Schedule !

• Class 1. Two matching 454g (1 lb) jars of Light English Honey.
  
• Class 2. Two matching 454g (1 lb) jars of Medium English Honey.
  
• Class 3. Two matching 454g (1 lb) jars of Dark English Honey.
  
• Class 8. Six matching transparent jars of English Honey, minimum jar size 345g (12 oz), labelled as for sale…
  

There are also Novice Classes for honey. A novice is anyone who has NOT won a prize at any Honey Show.

• Class 16. Two 454g (1 lb) jars Light English Honey.
  
• Class 17. Two 454g (1 lb) jars Medium or Dark English Honey.
  
• Class 18. Two 454g (1 lb) jars soft set English Honey.
  
• Class 19. Three 454g (1 lb) matching jars of English Honey.

Honey should be:

• Free from bubbles, crystals or debris.
• All jars filled to the same level.
• Once filled, keep jars upright.
• Put lids on immediately to maximise head space aroma.

Jars should be:

• Matching i.e., from the same batch.
• Must be spotlessly clean.
• Free of chips or damage.
• Polish the outside when on display.

Lids should be:

• Matching i.e., from the same batch.
• Must be spotlessly clean.
• No rust or scratches.
• Polish the outside when on display.

The Joy of Winning!

We look forward to seeing your honey and other exhibits at the Honiton Show on August 3rd 2023!

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© 2024 East Devon Beekeepers

Queen marking colour for 2024 – GREEN

The International queen marking colour code:
Years ending 1 or 6 are White , 2 or 7 are Yellow, 3 or 8 are Red, 4 or 9 are Green, 5 or 0 are Blue
Remember with the mnemonic Why You Rear Good Bees.