What is Chunk Honey?
Chunk honey is a jar of liquid honey with one or more pieces of honeycomb inside. You get the best of both worlds—plenty of sweet liquid honey along with a piece of honey-filled comb to enjoy. Once a common way to package and sell honey, this old-fashioned favorite is not as easy to find today. But, it is still a special treat for anyone who enjoys honey straight from the hive.
I don’t make a lot of chunk honey but I do love the experience. Exploring the different types of honey is a fun way to discover just how much variety the bees can provide
Honeycomb in a Jar – An Old-Fashioned Treat
Also called chunk comb honey, this old-fashioned way of packaging honey was once a common sight.
When I first became interested in beekeeping, seeing several pieces of honeycomb packed inside a quart jar of liquid honey was the norm.
Honey extractors have been around for a long time, but years ago they were not as readily available to every beekeeper.
Without an extractor, including pieces of honeycomb in the jar was a practical way to package and enjoy the harvest.
Today, most honey is sold in liquid form. This makes finding a jar with a beautiful piece of honeycomb tucked inside a little more unusual—and perhaps a bit more special.
What Does It Taste Like?
Eating chunks of honeycomb is a different experience from enjoying liquid honey alone.
When you bite into a piece, the wax cells break open and release the honey inside. It is sweet, chewy and about as close as you can get to enjoying honey straight from the hive.
The beeswax is edible, though some people prefer to chew it for a while and then discard the remaining wax. If this part seems a little strange, you can learn more about whether you can eat beeswax and what to expect.
How Much Honeycomb Is in the Jar?
There is no set number of honeycomb pieces required in a jar. Traditionally, a quart jar of chunk honey often contained three or four nice pieces of comb surrounded by liquid honey. Today, you may find only one piece, especially in smaller jars.
When I bottled small jars for festivals, I often used one small square of comb in each jar. The goal is not really a certain number of pieces but a nice balance of honeycomb and liquid honey.
How Beekeepers Make It
Making chunk honey is fairly simple, but you need good-quality honeycomb to begin. Ideally, the comb should be completely filled with honey and nicely capped. Fresh, light-colored comb makes the most attractive product.
Pieces of capped comb are cut to fit the jar and placed inside.
Then, extracted honey from other frames is poured around the comb to fill the remaining space. It is important to add enough liquid to completely cover the comb and prevent it from drying out.
The Process
1. Set aside nice frames of capped honey, the rest are in the honey extractor to separate liquid honey and wax.
2. Place the chosen honey frames on a table and use a dry warm knife to cut sections of wax comb from the frame. Go slow. A warm knife will cut better but be sure the knife is dry.
You can use a glass of hot water and two knives so one can be warming while you use the other one. For myself, I find that cutting in an up and down motion works better than trying to saw through the comb in an out and back manner.
3. Place the chunks of comb in each jar. Loosely place lids on the containers to protect the comb from absorbing moisture from the air. Honey with a high water content will spoil.
4. As you work, any extra pieces of honey filled wax around the edges of the frames can be collected and placed in a clean bucket. Along with your cappings wax (from the extractor process) the liquid honey can be strained out and used.
5. Dripping honey bags should be tied to a strong support in a warm room. Remaining liquid will drip into a clean collection bucket within a few hours.
Once complete, fill each jar of chunk honey with enough liquid to cover the comb. This keeps the comb moist and delicious. The comb will likely float up in the jar – that’s okay. Place a tight lid on each jar.
If you end up with extra pieces of comb and not enough liquid. You can store those pieces of honeycomb by wrapping and freezing them for later use.
Or, you could just go ahead and eat them right away-if you were not already stuffed from the small bites you have already sampled.
What if You Have Frames with Wires
If you really want to produce a small amount of chunk honey for your family, you can do what I do. You can cut pieces of wax from a honey frame that has wired foundation.
This wax is a bit thicker than the thinner special foundation – but it is still delicious. Take a knife and cut on each side of the support wire – across the top and bottom. You are limited to small rectangles of comb but they work nicely in smaller jars.
Why Is It Harder to Find Today?
As extractors became more accessible, it became easier for beekeepers to extract their honey – (remove liquid honey while leaving the comb intact). The empty comb could then be returned to the hive for the bees to refill.
This is important Reusing drawn comb saves the bees the time and resources needed to build it again.
Producing honey with pieces of comb also requires attractive, tender comb that can be cut and packaged without damage.
This extra effort is one reason chunk comb honey can be harder to find and may cost more than a jar of liquid honey.
Chunk Honey vs. Comb Honey
Both products contain honey in its natural wax comb, but they are packaged differently.
Comb honey is generally sold as a whole section or cut piece of honeycomb.
I’m sure you have seen those little square boxes of honeycomb. With chunk honey, pieces of comb are placed in a jar and surrounded by liquid honey.
Both are delicious straight from the container. But, there are many other ways to eat honeycomb, from pairing it with cheese and crackers to adding it to your favorite foods.
FAQs
Yes. The honey and beeswax comb are both edible. Some people swallow the wax, while others prefer to chew it until the honey is gone and discard the remaining wax.
Yes. Like other raw honey, the liquid honey may crystallize over time. This is a natural process and does not mean the honey has gone bad.
Production costs for producing chunk honey are higher than that of other forms. Each year, the bees have to rebuild all of the comb in the frames.
A jar of chunk honey stores well on the shelf as long as there is enough liquid to cover the wax.
Final Thoughts
I don’t make a lot of chunk honey, but I still enjoy this old-fashioned way of sharing the harvest. There is something special about seeing that beautiful piece of comb surrounded by golden honey in the jar.
If you ever find some at a local market or from a beekeeper, give it a try. You may discover a new favorite way to enjoy honey.