Gilboys Teign Valley Raw Honey
£12.95
(1-2 Business Day Tracked)
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"Our single-source raw honey is the purest, most natural honey you'll ever taste. It's unblended, unpasteurised, unheated, and triple cold-filtered to retain all of its beneficial qualities".
- Batch: #475.
- Harvested: August 2024.
- Location: Doddiscombsleigh.
- Nectar Sources: Bramble, Clover, Lime.
Our honey comes directly from Neil, our local beekeeper who carefully tends to over 200 beehives within 25 miles of our workshop in the Teign Valley.
Following the time-honoured organic methods pioneered by the renowned beekeeping Monks of Buckfast Abbey, Neil ensures the highest quality honey production. We're proud to source not just his exceptional honey, but also the pure, golden beeswax remaining after the honey is carefully extracted from the comb.
All About Honey & Bees
Quick Facts
- A single beehive can produce up to 60 lb (27 kg) of honey in a good season
- Bees fly approximately 55,000 miles (equivalent to 2.2 times around the world) to make just one pound of honey
- Honey can last indefinitely - edible honeycomb was found in Egyptian Pharaohs' tombs, over 3,000 years old!
- Bees have 5 eyes and can't see the colour red
- There are over 270 different kinds of bees in the UK alone
Raw Honey
- Minimally processed
- Contains natural pollen, enzymes, and beneficial nutrients
- Crystallises quickly due to pollen content
- Never heated above 37-40°C (99-104°F)
- Maximum health benefits
Cheap Supermarket Honey
- Heavily processed, removing most or all pollen
- Often blended and heated to 75°C (160°F), killing the beneficial nutrients
- Crystallises rarely or not at all
- In most cases will be diluted or not even real honey
- Limited health benefits
How Do Bees Make Honey?
- Bees collect nectar from flowers
- Mix it with enzymes from their mouth glands
- Create the wax honeycomb
- Reduce water content of the honey to around 17%
- Cap the cells with wax when ready
Beekeeping Essentials
- A healthy colony needs 20-30 lb of honey to survive winter
- Beekeepers use a "queen excluder" to separate honey storage from brood areas
- Honey is harvested using a spinner that extracts it from the comb
- Strong colonies produce 2-3 times more honey than they need
- Different flowers produce different types of honey (e.g., heather honey is considered "King of Honeys")
How to Buy Honey
- Purchase from local producers
- Look for clear labeling of source
- Choose raw or minimally processed options
- Expect natural crystallisation in the jar
- Verify it's from a reputable beekeeper