Comb Honey

Usage/Benefits

Honey Comb has many uses. These include use as a spread on toast or bread, a snack on its own, in cooking, crushed over breakfast fruits such as kiwifruit, grapefruit etc. or as a gourmet treat. When used as a spread, the comb is eaten along with the bread and almost passes unnoticed, but has a certain delicate flavour of its own. The wax comb is perfectly edible.

Sealed in the Honey Comb by the bees, Honey Comb has better retention of flavour and aroma to that of extracted and processed honeys. The fresh bouquet is sealed in. Many mono floral honey types exhibit their best characteristics in Honey Comb form - a unique gourmet treat.

New Zealand honey is free from many problems associated with honey from other parts of the World such as pollution fallout and chemical residues. Honey comb from New Zealand is therefore among the purest honeys in the World.

Many honeys have a natural tendency to crystallise. In Honey Comb this sometimes shows up as a certain sugary consistency. While this condition is uncommon, it is perfectly natural and the nutritional value of the product is unchanged.

Production Processing

Honey Comb is seasonal and as such supplies can be limited by poor production seasons. With special storage facilities however Airborne is able to offer high quality product throughout the year within the limits of average production.

The crop is produced in the Southern Hemisphere Summer around December - January and the first production of new season's product becomes available around March - April.

There are no chemicals or drugs used in the production of Airborne's Honey comb. "Fumigation", unlike most other countries, is carried out by freezing to -18°C rather than using chemical fumigants.

Airborne produces mostly "cut comb". This is cut from the original frames of Honey Comb produced in the beehive. After passing inspection, this is then placed in the final container ready for consumption.

Honey Comb is produced in frames that are specially prepared for the purpose. The sheet of "foundation" wax that is placed in the middle of the frame to guide the bees is made from pure beeswax and only "Thin Super" foundation is used. This is approx. ²/₃ the weight of foundation used in normal beekeeping management and greatly reduces the amount of wax in the centre of the product.

Most of the Honey Comb produced is clover (Trifolium repens), but other honey types are sometimes available. These include Vipers Bugloss, Manuka and Honeydew. Polyflora lines are also available.

Packaging

A range of Honey Comb sizes and presentations is available. In cut comb this includes 100 gm round, 150 gm square, 200 gm round and 340 gm square sizes. A 1 kg catering size and full frames direct from the hive (averaging around 2.8 kilos net) can also be supplied. These can be used for further cutting for cut comb, chunk honey or the frames may be used for display purposes such as catering in hotels etc.

100 Gram Cut Comb

150 Gram Cut Comb

340 Gram Cut Comb

Storage/Distribution

Things to Consider for storage and distribution of Honey Comb are :

The product is Fragile. The product must be kept upright at all times. It should always be displayed on the flat. Temperature range should be between 20°C and 30°C Crystallization of honey occurs most rapidly at 14°C - this temperature therefore should be avoided. Sending product by mail order and courier will often result in some damage to the product's appearance, a result of being inverted in transit. Honey Comb is successfully transported in pallet quantities all over the World.

Delivery times from placement of order vary due to :

Development time for labels for order. Size of order Shipping availability, shipping time. Availability of product. Standing orders are filled first. It is therefore advantageous to place an order prior to the season to ensure supplies are allocated for your order.

© 1999 Airborne Honey Ltd