Massachusetts Honey and Apiculture

Honey

A bottle of pure honey contains the natural sweet substance produced by honey bees from the nectar of plants or secretions of living parts of plants.  Nothing else. The color and flavor of honey differ depending on the bees' nectar source (the blossoms). In general, lighter colored honeys are mild in flavor, while darker honeys are usually more robust in flavor.

Nutritional Benefits: Honey is composed primarily of carbohydrates and water, and also contains small amounts of a wide array of vitamins and minerals, including niacin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium and zinc.Of recent interest is the antioxidant content of honey. Generally, darker honeys have higher antioxidant content than lighter honeys.

Complete information concerning honey's chemical makeup and nutritional content is available in our downloadable PDF brochure, "Honey, a Reference Guide to Nature's Sweetener".

Apiculture

Beekeeping, or apiculture, is concerned with the practical management of the social species of honey bees, which live in large colonies of up to 100,000 individuals. At some point humans began to domesticate wild bees in artificial hives made from hollow logs, wooden boxes, pottery vessels, and woven straw baskets or "skeps".  

Currently, there are considerable regional variations in the type of hive in which bees are kept. A hive is a set of rectangular wooden boxes filled with moveable wood or plastic frames, each of which holds a sheet of wax or plastic foundation. The bees build cells upon the sheets of foundation to create complete honeycombs. The bottom box, or brood chamber, contains the queen and most of the bees; the upper boxes, or supers, contain just honey.         

Local honey is available at many farm stands, farmers markets and specialty food stores through Middlessex and Essex Counties. NortheastHarvest can point you to local honey sources. It's natural sweetness can enhance tea, coffee, ice cream, plain yogurt, or can be enjoyed right out the jar!

Practical Beekeeping

Local residents are fortunate to have strong beekeeping organizations available for information and guidance about apiculture.  

The Essex County Beekeepers' Association offers a nine week course for beginning beekeepers and others with an interest in bees. Practical Beekeeping is an introductory level course designed to provide students, with no previous knowledge or experience with beekeeping, the necessary information and skills to keep honeybees. The course includes instruction on bee biology, required equipment, setting up bee hives, acquiring and installing bees, managing bees through the seasons, harvesting honey and bees wax, local bee supply dealers, a workshop on building bee equipment, and culminates with one field session working with live honeybees.  

The Middlesex County Beekeepers Association of Mass has members throughout Middlesex County and the surrounding area. The club's theme is "beekeepers helping beekeepers," finding enjoyment and fulfillment in keeping bees. The club maintains a members' only webpage to post questions and exchange information between meetings - a great way to stay in touch. They welcome new members and offer classes in beekeeping for beginners.

Local Sources of Honey in Northeastern Massachussets

Click here to use the Northeast Harvest Farm Map to search for honey in your town.

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