Comb honey is ready-to-eat and raw honey, straight from the hive. It consists of fully-drawn comb filled with capped honey that can be eaten straight, put on toast, paired with cheese, or consumed in a variety of other ways. You might have seen comb honey chunks dripping on fancy charcuterie boards. It's a delicacy that cultures across the world enjoy.
But how do beekeepers get their honey bees to make comb honey? There are a variety of ways that we will explore in this article.
Cut comb honey made by the bees
The easiest way to make comb honey is to have the bees do the whole process themselves! Cut comb honey is produced by simply cutting the whole honeycomb free from the frame.
To kickstart the cut comb process, assemble wedge-top wooden frames and install unwired shallow or medium cut comb foundation. We recommend using shallow or medium frames since unwired deep frames will buckle under the pressure of honeycomb not built on reinforced foundation. The cut comb foundation is thinner than our other wax foundation, reducing the amount of wax that ends up in the finished product. This foundation can be used with groove-top frames, but the additional support provided by the wedge-top can more securely hold the full honeycomb.
Once the bees fully draw out and cap the comb, you can use a cut comb knife or a square stainless comb cutter to cut the comb into chunks. We recommend wearing gloves and putting down plastic as this can be a very messy process! Be sure to let the combs completely drain before packaging them in a styrene container or other square or rectangular container of your choice. Top it all off with a cut comb label and you have a ready-to-sell, ready-to-eat product to give to friends and family or to sell at a farmer’s market!
Hogg Halfcomb comb honey system
Another way to get comb honey is by using a system like the Hogg Halfcomb. This system features a modified honey super. The 10 frame version has 40 cassettes while the 8 frame has 32 cassettes. The bottom of each of these square, plastic cassettes are lightly coated with beeswax to entice the bees to build comb and store honey right in the container.
When the sections are full of honeycomb, it’s virtually mess-free to pop the cassettes out of the honey super, put a plastic lid on them, and label them. Voila, you have a hive product that’s ready to sell!
This system should be used on a strong colony during an intense nectar flow. To get your colony up to the required strength, Herman Danenhower, (the owner of Hogg Halfcomb and accomplished comb honey producer,) recommends doing a Juniper Hill Split early on in May (or soon after the dandelions bloom), then rearranging the hive 17 days later and adding a Hogg super. He has seen great success with the system after doing this style of split. This is our top-selling comb honey system – customers say it’s easy to use and the cleanest way to make comb honey!
Ross Rounds comb honey
Like the Hogg Halfcomb system, you want to “super up” with the Ross Rounds system when your colony is strong and the nectar is flowing.
The bees will build out the two sides of the frames (on a thin piece of foundation that is placed between the two parts of the frame) and fill them with comb and honey. Once your Ross Rounds are full, you will remove the sections frame-by-frame, releasing them by slowly pulling the two parts of the frames apart. Then it’s as easy as putting covers on the top and bottom (choose from opaque or clear covers) and completing the look with one of five beautifully designed labels. Another popular comb honey system is the Ross Rounds system. Ross Rounds is the only system that makes round section comb honey. The 4-1/2” tall complete super is more shallow than a regular shallow box to prevent the bees from making burr comb. The 10 frame kit makes 32 rounds and the 8 frame makes 28 rounds.
Whichever way you choose to make comb honey, these sections of chunky liquid gold sell at a premium in roadside stands and at farmer’s markets.
The Betterbee Product Corner is written by Quinn Brown, Betterbee’s Marketing Manager, and aims to explain the how-tos of products that Betterbee sells. If you have any ideas for future product overviews, please email them to newsletter@betterbee.com.
