What’s this white thing on top of my honey?

You got your honey, and around the top of the jar there is something white. It seems to float – if you turn the jar upside down, part of it sticks where it is, while another part of it floats to the (new) top. What’s up with that!?

The answer is “not much”. Alongside the honey, there are a few other things that float along when the honey gets extracted out of the frames. The honey is then strained, but some particles that are too fine to be fully strained out remain inside. These are beesax, pollen, and tiny little air bubbles that makes some of the pollen float. It very slowly makes its way to the top, but not particularly quickly.

After extracting the honey, there’s always a rather thick layer of that white, sticky foamy mixture on top of the honey. I always put the top layer back in the strainer for 4-5 additional strains, but some amount always makes it back to the honey. That minimal amount is what made it back to your jar.

So, you ask, how come some of my honey doesn’t have it? Usually that’s the honey that was bottled when the top of the honey liquid in the bucket didn’t yet reach the level of the spigot, so the white stuff that was floating on top didn’t make it to that specific jar.

Worry not, and enjoy the honey!