In this article I will share with you my experience of harvesting honey from our hives in Ardèche and the result of mixing it with matcha. I'm not an expert, I still learned some basics about beekeeping over time.
Here are the beehives:
Last year one of the bee colonies split and formed a swarm. Usually this happens when a hive is "full", that is to say that the colony has reached a size in number of bees which requires new space.
The colony then subdivides and clings to a tree in a cluster while the "scouts" go in search of a new home. When that happens they are all groggy because they ate a lot of honey for energy during this epic adventure out of the hive 🐝 🤪
When spring arrives we examine the beehives. The very active and healthy hives are opened and we put an extension. The bees will first fill their hive from the bottom then when it is full they will store the honey in addition in the extension. As Haditze says in the documentary Honeyland, "Half for me and half for you" - in our case the riser is more like a third of the space.
At the end of summer, the extensions are removed and the hives closed. The bees will have filled their hive to the brim with honey to pass the cold winter, and the excess placed in the extensions will constitute our honey harvest for the year 🍯
This is what a solid frame looks like in a riser:
This frame must be "uncapped", that is to say meticulously remove the layer of wax that the bees have placed to protect the honey:
Four uncapped frames are placed in a manual centrifuge. There is a crank that you have to turn by hand to make the frames push the honey out of the cylinder wall, and then the honey will flow down the tub.
After being uncapped and centrifuged a frame looks like this:
I love chewing the wax full of honey 🍯 🤓
When all the frames are centrifuged (or when the centrifuge is full of honey), the honey is passed from the centrifuge (top) to a small maturation tank (bottom):
Theoretically you have to let the honey wait in the maturing tank for several days, but I was too keen to experiment with matcha honey now 😅
I started by collecting a jar of raw honey. I chose to test with ultra-premium organic matcha. And to create two versions: 1 version with a little honey and a lot of matcha and another version with more honey and less concentrated in matcha.
Here is version 1: honey concentrated in matcha 🍯 🍵 🍵 🍵
Mix with a small spoon. The texture is surprisingly silky and powdery at first.
Then the result becomes smoother and deeper green, it's ready 😁
Then here is my 2nd version a little less concentrated in matcha 🍯 🍯 🍯 🍵
Look inside I love the contrast of matcha on honey:
And here is the final result of matcha honey (balanced version):
Here is this recipe is easily made with honey and organic matcha, keeps well in the refrigerator, and matcha honey can be used as a matcha syrup to make matcha latte, Or to put on a toast ...
Good tasting !
- Val de Kumiko Matcha 🍵
