BY JEM ANSHAW
We all know how to get honey out of bottles or tubs, but what about how it gets there?
Interested members of the community were able to experience the honey extraction process first hand thanks to a demonstration by Rucko’s Farm at the Muswellbrook Community Garden.
Brett Ruxton, or Rucko as he is more commonly known, has 25 hives across the Muswellbrook Shire that he collects honey from, including the two used for the demonstration on the weekend.
Rucko and his team took the frames out of the Community Garden hives before guests arrived and then they got to work on site with the extraction.
“We uncap the cells to make the honey available, they are sealed with wax before that,” Rucko explained of the first step in the process which entails cutting wax from the frames.
“Then it goes into the centrifuge and it will spin in there for about 10 minutes per side on different speeds.
“From that the honey is going to drain straight out the bottom, and then we pour the honey through the strainer into a settling tank.”
Once it comes out of the settling tank it gets bottled – no heating, nothing being added, just the pure product ready for consumption.
“You will get spicks and specks in there because this is absolutely natural raw honey, it’s not getting pushed through a filter so you will maintain all your pollen and all your goodness,” Rucko said.
There is very little, if any, waste in the process as the wax that is removed from the frames is pressed to extract the honey and reformed onto the frame to make it easier for the bees to start making the cells again.
It can also be used to make products like lip gloss that Rucko’s Farm also produce with excess wax.
The honey extracted from the Community Garden hives was sold on the day, and what was left will stay with volunteers to sell, to help raise money to buy bee suits so more people are able to help check and care for the hives.
