Hi Y’all - been a while!
Third season as a beek and I decided to give the state beekeepers association honey show a shot.
Amber Extracted, Beeswax Block and Creamed honey took best in state!
Hi Y’all - been a while!
Third season as a beek and I decided to give the state beekeepers association honey show a shot.
Amber Extracted, Beeswax Block and Creamed honey took best in state!
Wow Bobby, that’s awesome! Congratulations! Great photo too!
Yeah same here,
Did John Pluta from Georgia bees dot com have any entries?
Well done Bobby!! Missed ya - glad you’ve been having a great season😎
Woohoo! … Well done Bobby. What was flowering at the time you honey was being collected by the bees?
Dunno if he did or not.
Privet, blackberries, dandelion, clover, etc.
11 out of 10 mate, looks like you cleaned up all the 1st places, you must be really happy.
Welcome back and well done. Must say our Royal show is a bit cheap- we get no ribon or trophy- just a card. . Still it’s nice to win- mum took out two prizes this year.
Congratulations Now the next question is, was the honey traditionally harvested, or Flow honey? Or a mix?
Our wins were flow honey. Mead and medium amber mixed flora. First prize
Hi Faroe, this was traditionally extracted. My Flow super wound up with some sugar water in it when I let the girls Rob out an overwintered super from a dead out. How’d I know? I add food coloring to my feed.
I really don’t think it matters whether showed honey is flow extracted or traditionally extracted. I think it’s mostly about presentation. If the best tasting honey in the world isn’t presented correctly, it wont get a prize.
While of course you are right, it certainly matters to Flow that honey from their hives is winning prizes, even when up against stiff competition from seasoned pros like you!
I see your point Dawn and it is valid. What Jeff says is indeed true though. Show honey is, for most part, a bottle show.
What Flow can be proud of is knowing that the Flow Hive was the catylist that led to a non-beekeeper going from zero to thirty hives in three years and providing quality honey and products of the hive to his community, becoming a mentor to new beekeepers, and embracing beekeeping to it’s fullest with no sign of stopping.
You should check out our Instagram @bobbeemacbees
Aside from the obvious advantages, when it comes to flavor I do think there’s something to be said for the Flow extraction process, that others have pointed out - less exposure to air compared to extractor-harvested honey results in fresher tasting honey.
presentation is a big factor- but at least at the Royal Show in Adelaide they do actually taste the honey and the taste forms a larger part of the calculation than the presentation. For instance this year my Mum’s Mead won first prize primarily because ‘it tasted how mead is supposed to taste’. That’s directly from the judges. She just had it in a Bickfords cordial bottle.
Also- it may not be a factor the judges can calculate: but when we have entered flow honey it has been 100% cold processed and raw. It is never heated at all- not even warmed a little bit for filtering. We have entered honey that has gone direct from the hive into the jar with zero filtration, heating etc.
I have been harvesting 3 different ways: spinning, flow hives and crushing in a press. Without a doubt the Flow hive honey comes up very well- it candies slower than spun or crushed honey and the flavor is excellent. For three years in a row now we have won first prizes with the flow honey going up against commercial beekeepers and folks with years of show experience. I really do think that there is something to way the flow honey is collected that gives it a bit of an edge.
I just love success stories. That’s inspiring cuz I’m a newbie! Congratulations on the blues!