Larry Garret in Indiana is a beekeeper of art. Look at his harvesting. His honey is worth double the price. He writes to me:
I typically begin harvesting the first honey in early June and continue to harvest each week through July. My honey is harvested from foundationless natural comb newly drawn by the bees each season. Frequent small batch harvests allow me to capture the subtle changes in appearance and flavor of the honey throughout the season. Each comb of fully capped honey is individually selected at the optimal time for harvest.
My crush and stain harvests are done in small batches of three to five kilograms. I use a stainless steel bucket, a large knife, a food grade plastic bucket, and a food grade straining bag. Each batch takes about 10 minutes to prepare and I usually do three to five batches each harvest day. I allow the honey to drain overnight before pouring into glass jars. I process the wax in a solar wax melter.
My methods are more time consuming but yield the highest quality of raw natural honey.
Foundationless combs harvested
The wax is processed in solar wax melter
Subtle changes in appearance of honey harvested from the same hive.
We use an almost identical process here in the UK .The process takes a little more time perhaps , although with our foundationless plastic frame we simply cut out the panel of comb and put it in the strainer bag .The changes in the colour , aroma , and taste gives a unique character for each batch.
Also placing a piece of cut comb in the jar makes it interesting for the customer, and attracts a premium price.