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How to Extract Honey From a Natural Honeycomb

Bee colonies, whether wild or from hives, produce honey. The bees harvest nectar from flowers and insert the liquid into hexagonal compartments in the hive. Workers fan the nectar, drying the water from the fluid. Over time, the honey becomes thicker and sweeter as the sugar in the nectar concentrates. When all of the water has dried out from the nectar, the bees cap the compartment with fresh beeswax. When harvesting honey, choose honeycomb with compartments solidly covered with fresh white wax caps. This indicates that the honey is complete and ready for harvest.

Things You'll Need

2 large plastic containers
Capping knife
Muslin
Jars
Pot
Spoon

Instructions

- 1
  Cut the caps off the honeycomb with the capping knife. A capping knife has a wide blade that cuts the wax caps off one side of the honeycomb. Pull the capping knife down the length of the honeycomb. Collect the caps in one of the plastic containers. According to Mother Earth News, the caps contain roughly 1/10 of the total honey harvest.
- 2
  Lay the honeycomb in the second plastic container. Place it so that the open side of the honeycomb faces down. This allows the honey to drain from the comb. Let the comb drain for 24 hours.
- 3
  Remove the honeycomb and add it to the container with the honey caps. Strain the remaining honey through muslin to remove debris and bottle in clean, fresh jars.
- 4
  Break the honeycomb into pieces with your hands. Drop the broken honeycomb and the caps into a pot of water. The size of the pot depends on how much honey you are processing. If you are only dealing with one or two frames, then a 2-quart pot works well. For larger amounts, consider a stockpot. Wash the plastic container.
- 5
  Bring the water to a boil. The wax melts, floating to the top. Skim the wax off the top of the pot and spoon it into the clean, plastic container. Spoon the water out of the pot and discard. The remainder of the honey settles to the bottom of the pot. Strain the honey and pour it into a jar.

Insects & Science