St. Molaga
St. Molaga was a monastic saint living in 7th century Ireland who was know as the ‘Irish Saint of the Bees’. As a returning missionary, from a monastery in Wales, he is credited with having brought bee keeping skills back to his new monastery in Timoleague, West Cork, Ireland. St. Molaga was know as ‘The Bee Whisperer’ due to his ability to calm the bees in the hive by talking to them gently. He kept numerous bee hives at his abbey in Timolegue, West Cork, IRELAND. Today the Collins family continue the St. Molaga 1500 year old local tradition of beekeeping on their family farm in Timoleague, West Cork, Ireland.
HONEY
Honey Bees collect nectar during the spring and summer months from wild flora and then deposit it inside cells or honeycomb. Female ‘Worker bees’ convert the nectar into honey inside the honeycomb, with the use of special enzymes, they then cap the cell of honeycomb with a thin layer of wax to protect the honey. Each hive can contain as many as 90,000 bees during the summer months. The honeybee most commonly found in Ireland is the Dark European Honeybee (Apis Mellifera).
Worker bees need to visit 2 million flowers to collect enough nectar to make just 454g (1lb) of pure honey. It take over 12 bees to make just 1 teaspoon (5ml) of honey in their lifetime. Once the hive is filled with honey, the beekeeper takes out the honeycomb frame and uses centrifugal force to separate the honey from the beeswax. Honey contains a natural antibiotic called inhibine, a natural preservative so bacteria cannot grow on it.
That’s it – Nothing added or taken away – PURE, SIMPLE, NATURAL honey just as nature intended!