Lately I've been having an intense desire for comb honey. I googled around a bit but I can't seem to find it anywhere in Switzerland. Anyone know where can one get their hands on this delicacy? Preferably in the German parts, but I'm at a point where I'm happy to travel anywhere within 3 hours driving distance.
Any beekeeper will have it. Next time you stop by your neighborhood hoflädeli ask the farmer. They usually sell the local honey, and they will be able to point you in the right direction.
This past summer my neighbor was cleaning his bee hives and I could get some for free.
Try Google, or local.ch to search for an Imker in your area.
I've seen it in bio or Reformhaus places, and also in ethnic food shops (The Turkish guy at Meierhofplatz). If there is a farmer's market near you then that would also be a good bet. I've also seen it once or twice in a Landi.
But you may well be too late in the year, AFAIK Wabenhonig is typically sold during the (early) warm season, and due to limited demand unlikely to be produced for stock here.
Perhaps you can order from abroad still, e.g. here .
Just an FYI, the local paper reported that this year's honey production was one of the worst ever, due to poor weather conditions. Some Zürichsee beekeepers reported no harvest at all:
Even in good years, it is hard to make comb honey. Bees work in circular ball shapes, whilst humans push them into boxes. It is fairly easy to get the comb honey half full, with the corners being empty, but it's much harder to persuade the little devils to fill all the honey comb. It is usual to harvest honey combs right after an intense period of activity, May to July.
Then the second problem arrives, honey will crystallise and form darker yellow crystals. Unless it is seeded with smaller crystals, these are usually coarse ugly crystals, which nobody will enjoy. Warming honey in a jar, in hot water, will melt the crystals back to liquid honey, but this is impossible with a honey comb.
The best advice is to order some for next year from your local Imker.
I met a beekeeper in Munich and he told me proudly his honey had been certified Bavarian honey. So I asked the German if it was difficult getting the certificate of origin. He said he had had an easy time, but his friend had kept his hives near the botanical gardens in Munich, and this honey was refused as it contained foreign pollen spores! I used to keep bees in London, and friends had trouble when their bees raided the sugar processing plant in East London and the collected sugar ruined his honey harvest.