Tried & True

If you are into homemade, then a fruit press – sometimes called a torchietto – is a great addition to your kit. As an amateur beekeeper, I purchased this as an alternative to a spinner as a way to extract honey.

The costs of conventional honey spinners are high and I only had a small amount of honey to extract. A press is better suited for honey extraction from a Warre or top-bar hive because you need to remove the comb from the bar regardless of whether you’re spinning or pressing.

Extracting honey from a Langstroth hive, however, which I have, you need to cut the honeycomb out of the frame and its wires in order to fit it into the twolitre pot for pressing. But when using a conventional spinner, your comb staysin tact and you can put the already-drawn-out frame back into the hive.