Genie's Handcrafted Artisanware

Classified as a natural wax, beeswax is produced by the honeybee for use in the manufacture of honeycombs.

Beeswax is actually a refinement of honey. A female worker bee eats honey, and her body converts the sugar in the honey into wax. The wax is expelled from the bee's body in the form of scales beneath her abdomen. The bee will remove a wax scale and chew it up to soften it and make it pliable enough to work with, then attach it to the comb which is being constructed. Usually another bee will take the piece of wax which has just been attached to the comb, chew it some more and deposit it on another section of the comb. The combs are built up, honey is deposited inside, and then the combs are capped with more wax.

Collecting beeswax is the byproduct of a process. As a beekeeper, my main interest is in the collection of honey. The capping wax must be removed in order to extract the honey; I save the capping wax until I've collected enough to make beeswax candles.

Because beeswax is harvested in relatively small quantities it is more expensive.  Candles made from 100% beeswax are generally held in high regard; when burning they glow beautifully and they impart a very pleasant honey-like aroma.  

Our honey is pure, unprocessed natural honey. Because of this, and because it contains raw pollen, its health benefits (if not heated too much or microwaved) include:
~ providing effective energy (and memory retention) with far fewer calories than refined sugars,
~ faster healing of chapped lips, cuts, burns and acne,
~ increasing your body's ability to fight off bacterial, fungal and even viral infections, as well as cancer (it raises the levels of antioxidants in the blood stream), and
~ honey's abilities to lower cholesterol, triglycerides and blood sugar.
In patients with type 2 diabetes, natural honey has been found to cause a significantly lower rise in blood sugar than either dextrose or sucrose (refined sugars).

Honey is great for reducing cold symptoms, especially coughs, and helps encourage deep and restful sleep (a teaspoon a few hours before bedtime). You can mix it with olive oil and lemon juice and use it as a skin moisturizer (1:1:1/2) or with water (1t:4C) to use as a hair rinse, or take 2t plain every few hours for a belly ache.
Please don't give honey to children less than 1 year old because it is not pasteurized.
It is important to keep this honey stored in an airtight container at room temperature so that it doesn’t absorb moisture from the air or be too cold. If your honey crystallizes (grocery store honey is too processed to crystalize – it has no pollen!) simply eat it that way (honey doesn't spoil) or put the jar into hot water (~130°F) so that the crystals dissolve. Please do not microwave honey, or heat it too hot if you want it to remain healthful.

• It took about 2 million flowers to make a pound of honey.
• A hive of bees flew about 55,000 miles total to make a pound of honey.
• An average worker bee makes 1/12 tsp. of honey in her life.
• All worker bees are female.
• Bees communicate to one another by dancing, which can be understood (by bees) in complete darkness.
• A queen bee can lay up to 2-3,000 eggs in one day - that's 175-200 thousand annually.
• One hive may hold up to 80,000 bees - one queen, a few hundred drone (males), and the rest female workers.

COOKING TIPS:
On average, honey is 1 to 1 1/2 times sweeter than sugar.
When baking with honey, use about 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda for each cup of honey used.
Reduce the liquid in your recipe by 1/4 cup for each cup of honey used.
Reduce your oven temperature by 25 degrees Fahrenheit to prevent over-browning.

We hope that you find joy and health in this gift from nature ~ let us know if you have any questions!