About our natural, unheated, and pure local Japanese honey
We are passionate about producing delicious honey, and we go to great lengths to create natural, unheated, and pure local Japanese honey.
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1. First and foremost, creating an environment where bees can thrive is fundamental.
Regardless of location, one of the most significant risks for bees is pesticides. In Japan, neonicotinoids are still legal. If used nearby, bees will almost certainly perish. Additionally, even substances claimed to be "harmless to bees" are brought back to the hive by bees. Moreover, pesticides gradually accumulate in beeswax.
At BeeCamp, we are located in an environment where bees can fly around vigorously, much like at Izumi Farm, which practices nearly organic farming. -
2. Managing bee health is also crucial.
Another major issue for honeybees worldwide is the Varroa mite. This mite brings various diseases to bees. Originally parasitic to Eastern honeybees, it spread worldwide via Russia. Treatment for this is essential; without it, colonies with strong momentum can rapidly decline. We administer treatment before the start of spring honey collection and after the summer honey collection continuing into winter.
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3. Feeding is essential, but we feed only the bees.
Before flowers begin to bloom and during periods without flowers, such as midsummer and late autumn, we feed the bees with sugar water made from refined sugar. However, when we want the bees to store honey for us, we remove all feed to ensure that sugar does not enter the honey. This is because we seek purity.
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4. We only take matured honey.
Using dedicated honey storage boxes (Honey Supers) with sealed honeycombs, we collect only matured honey with a moisture content of around 18%. While this method allows for honey harvesting only a few times a year, it results in delicious honey.
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5. To ensure pure harvesting, we use a queen excluder.
We place a board called a queen excluder under the Honey Super to prevent the queen bee from climbing up and laying eggs in the Honey Super, ensuring that bee larvae and other contaminants do not mix with the honey. This allows us to harvest the pure honey we desire.
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6. We only harvest honey twice a year.
We harvest the precious honey, that bees have diligently produced, only twice a year: spring honey (including cherry blossoms and Iyokan citrus Neroli) and summer honey (with a variety of flowers). The remaining honey is left for the bees for over-wintering.
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7. Almost unfiltered.
To achieve clarity, filtering with fine mesh can produce very clear honey, but it removes even the pollen naturally contained in the honey. Our honey contains natural pollen.
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8. We do not undergo heat treatment.
Most commercially available honey undergoes heat treatment. It is heated to around 60°C to make it easier to work with and pour into containers. However, certain beneficial enzymes are destroyed when heated. Our honey is bottled without undergoing heat treatment.
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9. Completely additive-free and pure.
Unfortunately, many commercially available honeys, mainly imports, contain additives such as syrup to increase volume. Our honey is completely additive-free and pure.
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10. Eco-friendly packaging.
The labels use traditional Japanese washi paper from Ikazaki in Uchiko, Ehime, and are handmade by a local artist. They are affixed to the bottom of the jars with natural adhesive. The lids are covered with recycled cloth that also serves as a jar mat, and they are finished with handmade hemp cord bracelets by Maria (which can also be used as friendship bracelets). The cardboard box packaging made in Ehime uses only recycled material, and the bags for local pickup at BeeCamp Hachimitsu are handmade from newspaper by a friend's mother. Returned empty jars are sanitized and reused (please recycle the metal lids at your place).