Beeswax -- Everything you never thought you needed to know

ddean

ddean

Joined
Mar 26, 2002
Messages
3,397
Product formulas aplenty (Chapter 4.11.3 -- 4.11.14) at:

http://www.fao.org/docrep/w0076e/w0076e00.htm#con
"......make available information on the manufacturing, processing and marketing of value added bee products. It is directed at beekeepers as well as non-beekeepers, small entrepreneurs, extension officers and those involved in small business development. Therefore, it tries to provide enough information to understand the primary products and their present and potential use."

includes formulas for adhesive, wood & leather treatment, crayons, polish, waterproofing, and more.
 
Note that the linked document includes a recipe for Bakutig - a traditional dish from Nepal made from bee larvae :)
 
I 've chewed beeswax like gum, pretty tasty! Some of the honey and bee parts and pollen add a good flavor. You can eat the stuff, I hear...

Keith
En Ferro Veritas
 
It makes great didjeridu (Yidaki) mouthpieces too:D Of course all mine have beard hairs stuck in them--so you probably wouldn't want to eat them:barf: ;) :D
 
Nice link, you find some good info. Thanks.

I have an old chunk of beeswax I found in a chandlery for waxing marline. Handy stuff to wax most any thread before stitching.
 
I have an old chunk of beeswax I found in a chandlery for waxing marline
Click to expand...

Hey, I don't want to start any trouble here but don't you think you ought to stand up for yourself and tell this Marline chick to wax HERSELF;) :p :D :D
 
Bits on mead too I see....odd that mead isn't more common than it is now - used to be as popular as beer once...
 
My bro brews beers and meads. He did a melolmel (fruit mead) with apples&honey, it took two years before it tasted really goood, and his hydrometer was floating on the top of it! He figures the alcohol content is in the 15-20% range.

True meads are honey water, yeast. that's it.

Having two brewers as friends or relatives is the life! I drink only occasionally, certain rituals I perform call for it as an offereing. I guess that makes me a religious drinker! Hee ehee haa haa!

Imported meads or 'honey wines' are available in Chicago, brought over from Poland. Some wineries may also make meads, like Camelot Mead from Oliver Winery (Southern Indiana)

Keith
En Ferro Veritas
 
Keith - you perform rituals that call for mead as an offering? Very interesting...

I've never tried melolmel before, only pure mead (which I've made before myself) - good stuff I think! Funny it's not more popular..
 
RE Mead-

"Funny it's not more popular.."

I've had the opportunity to sample a few homebrewed meads. They ranged from sweet to dry, still to quite carbonated. I've brewed ales, never tried mead--have added honey to ale recipes though.

I understand meads are quite tricky to make reproducibly, even for experienced brewers. You can still get good mead--just not quite like the last batch. Add the long fermentation and aging time requirine monitoring and you have a product difficult to mass produce, especially if the consumer demands consistancy.

I think mead could be popular if it was available at a "reasonable" price. But I suspect it would be more expensive than many would want to pay. People who spend $20 + (and +++ :)) for a bottle of wine may be interested, but I suspect others wouldn't think it was worth the price.

How much do the few commercial ones cost?
 
Originally posted by firkin
RE Mead-


How much do the few commercial ones cost?
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Firkin:

The ones I've seen locally range between $7 and $20 per bottle. I've never had any homebrewed mead, but the couple of commercial ones that I have tasted were very sweet. Give me barley and hops any day.

On the bee topic, I used to love to visit my great-uncle Francis down on the family farm. He kept bees, and we'd go get honeycomb to chew on after lunch.

S.
 
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