Capped Honey

The Bee's Quality Seal

When a forager returns to the hive with a stomach full of nectar, it is roughly 70-80% water. That is far too wet to store long-term; honey at that moisture level would ferment within days. So the colony processes it: house bees spread the nectar in thin layers across comb cells, fan their wings to create airflow, and allow the water to evaporate naturally over 1 to 3 days.

Once the moisture content drops to approximately 17-18%, the bees consider the honey "ripe." They seal the cell with a thin cap of freshly secreted beeswax. This cap creates an airtight seal that protects the honey from reabsorbing ambient moisture. In a properly capped cell, honey can remain shelf-stable indefinitely, long after the bees that made it are gone.

What Beekeepers Look For

During harvest, an experienced beekeeper examines each frame before pulling it from the hive. The standard rule is to only extract frames that are at least 80% capped. A frame with large areas of uncapped honey may still contain cells with moisture above 18%, and extracting that wet honey alongside ripe honey can raise the overall moisture level of the batch enough to risk fermentation.

Testing can be done with a refractometer, a handheld optical tool that measures the sugar concentration (and by extension, the moisture content) of a honey sample. Most experienced beekeepers can also judge readiness by giving the frame a quick shake: if nectar drips freely from uncapped cells, the frame needs more time.

Cappings as a Byproduct

When we slice the caps off honey frames before extraction, the removed wax is called "cappings." These are the purest beeswax in the hive because they are freshly secreted and have not been darkened by brood rearing or propolis staining. We collect the cappings, drain any residual honey from them, and melt them down for use in our candles and skincare products. The cappings honey that drains off is some of the most flavorful honey we produce, often reserved for special batches.