DIB Jars

This is 95% of the dandelion honey harvest - 10kg or 20 x 500gr jars.

In Germany, the honey sold by beekeepers rather than the larger industrial honey is almost always sold in a standard DIB jar or glass as they are called here. DIB is the German Beekeepers Association. One doesn't need to be a member to buy the empty jars but only members of an associated society can use the paper seals stuck over the lid.

These jars are very robust and almost always recycled by giving back to the beekeeper and I suspect there are jars in use that have been around for decades. The size and shape never changes. Same applies to the lids, the only thing one replaces each time is the lid insert. In the photo one can see the various colour hues of the lids, probably an indication of how many dishwashers they have seen.

The jars are unspectacular but have a very high acceptance rating and taken to represent a high quality standard. The fancy hexagonal glasses look much better but a survey showed that they are not as popular.

For the beekeeper they are great and make life very simple. All beekeeping supply shops have them together with replacement lids and inserts and they come packed in boxes of 12 which are also reusable and survive postage well.

For some reason I didn't make any notable mistakes today. Well just one. If I hadn't been quite so lazy, I would have filled the two types of honey in seperate containers and allowed them to stand for a week, allowing the air bubbles to float up and any tiny particles of beeswax, pollen etc still in the honey. From the extractor the honey goes through a larger and then a smaller pore seive. This removes 99%. By letting it settle the tiniest and as such invisible particles rise to the top and can be scouped off with a spoon.

I didn't do this, filling the dandelion honey first and then using the stainless steel container for the "rest" honey. Anyway I think all the pollen, propolis and wax can only be good for the immune system!

Jar #1 of 20 is for MrB. He needs to give me the OK to give away the other 19.