Many people enjoy eating honeycomb, but how do you get it? In this article, we’ll be helping you understand how to get honeycomb naturally and how you can enjoy it.
After all, honeycomb has numerous health benefits. By the end of this article, you’ll know everything there is to know about honeycombs.
How Is Honeycomb Made?
Worker bees make honeycombs using beeswax. If the temperature is suitable, the worker bees will secrete their wax scales from glands in their body.
They then chew on the wax with some pollen and honey to make the beeswax. The bees then use the honeycomb to make storage for honey and homes for the younger bees.
Due to how honey is made, bees need a lot of pollen and a lot more energy. However, they also need the honey to survive and reproduce, so there are more bees.
The honeycomb is then used as storage for the honey and a safe haven for the younger bees inside.
What Is Honeycomb?
A honeycomb is essentially a cluster of beeswax and raw honey. It is the internal structure of the hive, with the comb forming the rooms of the honeybee. It’s both a storage area for honey and younger bees.
When you open a hive, you may notice the hexagonal shapes of each comb. It’s impossible to miss, and it’s what makes the honeycomb so distinct.
The good news is that getting honeycomb from your hive is pretty easy if you’re a beekeeper. However, we should note that if you’re not experienced, you should take a step away from harvesting a hive.
How Do You Get Honeycomb?
You can get honeycomb when you’re harvesting your honey from your hive. In your hive, there should be wooden frames that will hold the honeycombs; this is where your bees store the honey.
All you need to do to harvest your honeycombs and honey is to pull the frame away from your hive and take a hot knife to cut the wax. You can extract the honey from the honeycomb with an extractor, or you can simply cut the honeycomb away.
When taking honeycomb from the hive, you should only harvest a little at a time. You don’t want to take too much from your bees, or it will damage their ecosystem. You should also ensure you wear protective gear in case your bees think you’re a threat.
What Can You Do With Honeycomb?
One of the best things you can do with honeycomb is eat it. As they’re cases of honey and are made from wax, there is nothing wrong with eating them. You can even combine honeycomb with other dishes and the honey from it to have a delicious meal.
You can eat honeycombs with cheese for a snack, and they can be a wonderful combination on any party tray. Honeycomb may also appear solid, but you can spread it over bread and add meats and cheese to combine sweet and savory flavors.
Consider topping your salads with chunks of honeycomb to add more flavor, as they’ll add more texture and flavor than croutons. You can also enjoy it in the batter of pancakes and waffles, which makes it one of the most versatile dishes in cooking.
Of course, you can also eat honeycomb on its own. You can simply take a bite out of it and enjoy the flavors for yourself.
Is Honeycomb Good For You?
Now that you know more about honeycomb, it’s time to know if honeycomb is good for you. You can eat any part of a honeycomb without any issues. In fact, honeycomb is rich in certain nutrients such as carbohydrates and antioxidants.
Honeycomb is mostly unprocessed raw honey, and this gives honey both antimicrobial and antibacterial properties. You wouldn’t find these properties in processed honey.
It is also suggested that honeycomb can boost the health of your heart, as beeswax may be able to reduce high blood cholesterol levels.
You’re also probably aware that honey is used as an anti-inflammatory when children have colds. Using honey, you can make your cold symptoms easier to handle.
Unsurprisingly, honeycomb can also protect your body against infections and will allow you to fight against certain fungi and bacteria. However, that doesn’t mean it will do much, as more studies on this subject need to be done.
However, you’ll find that if you give honeycomb to a child, you’ll notice that their coughs will get better. In fact, many people have noted that honeycomb is just as good as if you gave a child cough syrup.
Lastly, there’s a chance that honeycomb can be a potential alternative for anyone struggling with diabetes. As honey is sweeter than sugar, anyone with diabetes won’t have to ingest as much to get the same level of sweetness that they want.
Final Thoughts
Honeycomb is pretty easy for anyone to get hold of, and it’s also edible. It is made of hexagonal patterns shaped with beeswax and honey. It also works as storage for honey, pollen, and younger worker bees.
If you want to harvest honeycomb, you simply need to cut a little bit away from your hive. However, we don’t recommend doing this unless you are a beekeeper. If you’re not, we recommend not going near a wild hive.
Frequently Asked Questions
The wax cells of a honeycomb are more nutritious than honey itself, as it contains a natural antibiotic. The natural antibiotic comes from propolis, pollen, and a hint of royal jelly.
Beekeepers might remove the whole honeycomb to harvest honey. So, beekeepers might return the wax to the hive after they’ve harvested the honey to improve the amount of honey.
You should keep your raw honeycomb at room temperature, preferably in a plastic box, so no insects are tempted by it. Try not to expose it to water, and don’t leave it in the refrigerator. If it’s in the fridge, your honeycomb may crystallize.
Being an avid bee enthusiast, I know the importance bees have on our climate and planet. That is why I try to educate others about bees, how they survive, and how we can make their lives easier through the process of beekeeping.
I also ensure that the colonies on the farm are protected at all times.
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