Coshocton County
Beekeepers
March 2012 Newsletter
Beelines
A message from your club president, Jim Groves
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We attended the 34 annual Tri-County Beekeeping workshop on March 3 in Wooster, OH. Information from some of
the speakers had estimated there were 1,000 plus participants at this event, which is an increase over last year. An
average of 30% of the people had been in beekeeping for less than a year; approximately 15% were beginners
looking to start up this year. Workshops for children were set up to occupy them while their parents were attending
classes and talks by qualified bee experts. The topics ranged from beekeeping, care, life and diseases of honeybees.
Several vendors and supply companies were present to promote their products.
The Ohio State Extension is also offering free webinars the third Wednesday of every month throughout the year. Join
the Bee Lab contact list at http://bit.ly/osubeelab for webinar link, instructions and topics.
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Don’t forget that our next meeting will be held on April 14 at Dick Mullet’s home (28929 Twp Rd 338 Warsaw). Hope
to see you all there! Jim
A Note From Your Secretary
I had the opportunity to visit southern California recently and made sure to take notice of any honeybees I could find!
The first photo is during a canyon hike. It was so fascinating to see the bees work their magic in the desert
environment. These were just openings in rock formations.
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This photo is from one of the glorious arrangements of flowers in the complex where I stayed. I found several girls
having the time of their lives!
Calendar of Events
April 14
May 14
June 2
Beginning Beekeeper Help Day
Cosh Co Beekeepers Meeting
Cosh Co Beekeepers Meeting
Dick Mullet’s residence
Frontier Power Meeting Room
Location TBA
(Field Day)
June
July 6
July 10
August 4
OSBA Summer Meeting
First Friday
Cosh Co Beekeepers Meeting
Cosh Co Beekeepers Meeting
Oxford, OH
Downtown Coshocton
Frontier Power Meeting Room
Location TBA
(Field Day)
September 1
September 8
September
September 28 - October 4
October 9
Cosh Co Beekeepers Club Dinner
Lithopolis Honey Festival
4th Grade Ag Day
Coshocton Co Fair
Cosh Co Beekeepers Meeting
Location TBA
Lithopolis, OH
Frontier Power Meeting Room
(Extracting)
November 13
Cosh Co Beekeepers Meeting
November
OSBA Fall Meeting
Frontier Power Meeting Room
DID YOU KNOW??
Honeybees are a $250 billion business in the United States! Another reason to protect our winged-friends!
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Hope you had the luck of the Irish this St. Patrick’s Day!
Beginner Beekeeper Class Report
From Dick Mullett
During the fall and early winter I had the idea of trying to put on our own beginner beekeeper class. Our president Jim
Groves he said that he would help me. Our advertising went out with very short notice. We were able to have six
people attend the classes. We were able to use the Warsaw Fire House meeting room to hold the activity. This room
was far more than adequate and parking was outstanding. The class was held Saturday morning, 9:00 AM until noon,
each of the Saturdays in February.
Looking back, we had a great room, the equipment worked well; there was plenty of hands on material, and
way too much training material. Looking ahead, we plan to hold the class again next spring. We will advertise all
summer and gather names, then contact everyone after Christmas with the final details. We will cut down on the
material from the Power Point Presentation and stick to providing basics. We will also dedicate one class to
assembling woodenware.
I’d like to thank Jim Groves for helping me, the Walhonding Valley Fire Fighter Association, and Ohio State
Beekeepers Association. Most of all I’d like to thank the new members for attending – Michael Berry, Dan Bowden,
Reino Kalinen Jr., Scott Kemph, Joan Mistur, and Brian & Julie Brown.
Treasurer’s Report
Treasurers Report for March 7, 2012
The club balance as of February 7, 2012 meeting was $511.91. Activity since that time was the deposit of 12
memberships for 2012 for $120.00. The other $113.70 came from the Beginners Bee Class.
The balance for the club as of the March 7, 2012 is $745.61.
Cooking With Honey
Each newsletter will include recipes that use honey the girls work so hard to make for us. If you have any of your own
favorites that you would like to submit, please get them to me and I’ll make sure it gets added.
Red Skin Potato Salad With Honey Dilled Dressing
Makes 6 servings
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1-1/2 lbs. small red new potatoes
4 strips bacon
1 medium onion, diced
6 Tablespoons honey
6 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
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1/2 teaspoon water
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh dill or 1 Tablespoon dried dill
1 bunch watercress, washed and chopped
In large pot, boil whole potatoes in salted water until; tender but firm. Drain and cool. While potatoes are cooling, sauté
bacon until crisp in large frying pan. Remove bacon and set aside. Add onion to bacon drippings; cooking until soft,
about 3 minutes. Add honey and vinegar to pan; stir to combine and bring to a boil. Blend cornstarch with water; stir
into honey mixture. Cook until mixture thickens. Remove from heat. Crumble bacon; stir bacon and dill into dressing.
Cut cooled potatoes in half, leaving skins on. In large bowl, combine potatoes and watercress. Pour dressing over
salad and toss gently. Serve immediately.
Nutrition: 224 Calories * 6 g Fat Total * 7 g Protein * 11 mg Cholesterol * 36 g Carbohydrates * 211 mg Sodium *
OSBA Information
By Sue Daly, Central Ohio Beekeepers Association, Legislative Committee
What is a honey standard? Honey is honey, correct?
Well, I’m glad you asked!!
When there is a honey shortage honey prices rise. Good thing, bad thing. Over the past
decade a honey supply shortage has caused adulterated honey to appear on the U.S. market,
including Ohio. In March, 2006 five major honey groups (Sioux Honey, American Honey
Producers Association, American Beekeeping Federation, National Honey Packers and Dealers
Association, and the Western Dealers and Packers Association) petitioned the FDA to adopt the
2001 Revised Codex Standard of Identification of Honey (with certain deviations). In August
2006 and again in October 2011 the FDA denied the petition. Thus a state by state effort was
initiated to develop a honey standard.
What is the Codex Standard of Identification of Honey? The Codex Alimentarious Commission
is an international commission within the World Trade Association. Its function is to facilitate
ease in international trade. In 2000 the Commission addressed the need for an international
standard of identity for honey.
What is honey? What is butter? Dairy farmers lost the word “butter” to the public domain when
they kept letting margarine substitute for true butter. Because the dairy people did not define
“What is butter,” the general public very seldom knows the difference between spread with
“buttery taste” and butter. Therefore a “buttery taste spread” might also contain cream, canola
oil, salt and Vitamin A Palmitate. This is NOT a labeling issue but rather a “What is butter”
issue. Honey is having the same problem. Honey is a commodity and needs to be scientifically
defined to protect honey producers and the public. A honey standard defines precisely “What is
honey”.
A standard defines honey by means of scientific analysis to establish moisture content, and
sugar content thus ensuring the contents of a honey bottle. A honey standard should not be
confused with a statement of identity on a label. Honey labeling laws already exist to stop
deceptive wording on a label, such as “imitation honey”. They also require that if the word
“honey” appears on the “label” then it must be “pure honey manufactured by honey bees.”
However, the honey in the bottle can be PURE honey, but once in the bottle it could be just
another ingredient of a “honey blend”. A honey standard specifically defines the product
“honey”, thus increasing the strength of the labeling law.
In Ohio honey is defined in the Revised Code as 1) a food – article used for food or drink for
humans or animals and 2) as the nectar and saccharine exudation of plants that has been
gathered, modified, and stored in honeycomb by honeybees. Sounds good you say? How can
you prove it is honey? No one can define honey by merely saying that it comes from bees. A
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scientific standard would specifically state what that substance is.
Ohio’s definition could be improved as it is inadequate for the 21st century. The definition needs
to be more specific, in that it needs a method for determining honey from adulterated honey.
We have gotten ourselves in the position of having to tell the consumer that our honey is “pure”
or “raw” because there is no scientific definition of honey. The definition needs to include a
scientific analysis standard.
The National Honey Board (NHB) performed a survey with this conclusion: “With a variety of
blended sweeteners and “honey pretenders” being introduced into the market, consumer
understanding of the meaning of the term “honey” is likely to erode. THUS, the codification of
the food name “honey” is timely and sorely needed.” The NHB consumer survey in 2005 found
consumers are “very confused” about what “honey” means in terms of the “food’s composition.”
42% believed that PURE honey contains additives and 17% believed honey contains added
syrup. Even among the most frequent and dedicated honey users there is widespread
confusion as to what ingredients might be found in a bottle of pure honey. Anywhere from 3040% of frequent honey users believe that other sweeteners, water, or even oils are added to
pure honey once it is extracted from the comb.
Some of the beneficial consequences of a state honey standard are 1) increase the perception
that honey is healthy and wholesome, 2) stop manufacturers from calling their product “honey
something,” and 3) allow enforcement through the state.
Go to bee-source.com and click on the “Wall of Shame.” We have allowed the word “honey” to
go into the public domain where it is commonly used, yet many times contains little or no honey.
The word is used to lure customers into believing that the product is nutritious and wholesome
because when customers see “honey,” they automatically assume it is good for you and
“natural.”
Malcolm Sanford presented at the Ohio State Beekeeper 2008 annual meeting on actions in
Florida to change their state’s honey standards and the movement to adopt standards on a
state-by-state basis. In 2010 the Ohio State Beekeepers Association and the Central Ohio
Beekeepers Association created a committee to draft a state honey standard for Ohio. In a
Letter to the Editor in the January 2012 American Bee Journal, Nancy Gentry states that
Florida, California, Wisconsin, Utah, and Nebraska now have standards of identity for honey
with North Carolina recently adopting a state association standard. She continued to say that
Texas, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Colorado, Missouri, New York, Montana, Maryland, Ohio,
Kentucky, West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Tennessee has the issue before their legislature or
departments of agriculture while beekeepers in Georgia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and
Massachusetts are working on the issue. Her statement about Ohio was a little premature.
Since that article Ms. Gentry has stated that Minnesota, Nevada, Connecticut, Kansas, New
Jersey and Arkansas are pursuing a standard also.
The following proposal was approved by both Ohio associations:
Standard of Identity – Honey OHIO DRAFT PROPOSAL
(1) This standard applies to all honey produced by honey bees from nectar and covers all
styles of honey presentation that are processed and ultimately intended for direct
consumption and to all honey packed, processed or intended for sale in bulk containers
as honey, that may be repacked for retail sale or for sale or use as an ingredient in other
foods.
(2) “Honey” means the natural sweet substance produced by honeybees from the nectar of
plants or from secretions of living parts of plants or excretions of plant sucking insects on
the living parts of plants, which the bees collect, transform by combining with specific
substances of their own, deposit, dehydrate, store, and leave in the honeycomb to ripen
and mature. It consists essentially of different sugars, predominantly fructose and
glucose as well as other substances such as organic acids, enzymes and solid particles
derived from the foraging activities of the honey bee. The color of honey can vary from
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nearly colorless to dark brown. The consistency can be fluid, viscous, or partially to
completely crystallized. The flavor and aroma vary, but are derived from the plant’s
origin.
(3) Honey sold as such shall not have added to it any food additives, nor shall any other
additions be made other than honey. It shall not have begun to ferment or effervesce
and no pollen or constituent unique to honey may be removed except where unavoidable
in the removal of foreign matter.
(4) Honey shall meet the following standards:
(a) Honey shall not be heated or processed to such an extent that its essential
composition is changed or its quality is impaired.
(b) Chemical or biochemical treatments shall not be used to influence honey
crystallization.
(c) Moisture Content – Honey shall not have a moisture content exceeding 20%.
(d) Honey shall contain
(1) Not less than sixty percent (60%) fructose and glucose, combined.
(2) The ratio of fructose to glucose shall be greater than 0.9.
(e) Sucrose content shall not be greater than five percent (5%) (5g/100g).
(f) Water insoluble solids content shall not be greater than 0.1g/100g.
(g) No water may be added to honey in the course of extraction or packing for sale or
resale as honey.
(5) Name of the Food
(a) Products conforming to the standard of identity as adopted in this rule shall be
designated honey. Foods containing honey and any flavoring, spice or other added
ingredient or if honey is processed in such a way that a modification to honey occurs
that materially changes the flavor, color, viscosity or other material characteristics of
pure honey, then such foods shall be distinguished in the food name from honey by
declaration of the food additive or modification such food additive or modification
should be noted on the label in a font that is prominently displayed on the label.
(b) Honey may be designated according to floral or plant source if it comes predominately
from that particular source and has the organoleptic, physicochemical and
microscopic properties corresponding with that origin.
(c) Where honey has been designated according to floral or plant sources [as stated in
(5)(b)], then the common name of botanical name of the floral source shall be used in
conjunction with or joined with the word honey.
(d) The styles of honey identified in subparagraphs (5)(e)2 and 3 shall be declared on
packaging labeling as Honey, Comb Honey, Cut Comb in Honey, Honey with Comb or
Chunk Honey as appropriate.
(e) Honey may be designated according to the following styles:
(1) Honey which is honey in liquid or crystalline state or a mixture of the two;
(2) Comb Honey which is honey stored by bees in the cells of freshly built
broodless combs and which is sold in sealed whole combs or sections of such
combs;
(3) Cut Comb in Honey, Honey with Comb or Chunk Honey which is honey
containing one or more pieces of comb honey.
XXXX Adulteration and Misbranding of Honey
The following shall be prima facie evidence of adulteration under XXXXX or misbranding under
XXXX of any product sold or offered for sale as honey:
(1) The product has a maltose content in excess of 10%; or
(2) The product contains oligosaccharides indicative of invert syrup; or
(3) The absolute value of Carbon Stable Isotope Ratio Analysis (CSIRA) is not
more negative than -20.0 for the product; or
(4) CSIRA Internal Standard Procedure with a protein value minus honey value is
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more negative than -1.0 for the product; or
(5) The product fails to conform to the standard of identity stated in XXXX.
What can you do? Local associations need to get involved, passing resolutions in support of the
Ohio Honey Standard. Another suggestion is to get as many people as you can to sign a
petition to show Ohio beekeepers’ want a honey standard. Anyone who has friends in the
legislature is urged to call them and see if they will sponsor a bill for an Ohio Honey Standard.
Ohio needs a honey standard, and the committee believes the beekeepers of Ohio are willing to
work to get it.
Comments may be sent to: [email protected]
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Contact Information
Jim Groves (President) - 22462 CR 18 Walhonding, Ohio 443844 740-327-2036
[email protected]
Marcy Ritzert (Secretary/Newsletter editor) – 17739 CR 7 Coshocton Ohio 43812 740-294-7180
[email protected]
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