A tale of 2 Honey's

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A tale of 2 Honey's
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lottie

Joined: 11 Aug 2005
Posts: 5059
Location: ceredigion

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 07 4:26 pm Post subject:
Actually I really blotted my copybook at the bee club where we used to live as the chairman lived next to rape fields so was able to produce gallons of the stuff and overheard me as describing rapeseed honey as like cabbage stewed in sweet lard

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45670
Location: Essex

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 07 4:27 pm Post subject:

Vanessa

Joined: 08 May 2006
Posts: 8324

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 07 5:18 pm Post subject:
I'd love to keep bees, but the kit is so expensive

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 07 5:43 pm Post subject:
My mother keeps trying to buy me some for Christmas/birthdays, but himself is terrified of them, and we haven't enough room for them to give each other sufficient space (yet - I do have a cunning plan, and as the mortgage has been (almost) agreed, I might get away with it yet!)

joanne

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7100
Location: Morecambe, Lancashire

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 07 6:02 pm Post subject:

dougal wrote:

Pilsbury wrote:

As i mentioned in an earlier thread I have 35lb of honey to pack off tomorrow at work but it has set so what is the best way to liquify it? I have big saucepans i can uses as a water boiler or a big steamer I can pop it into or will that make it to hot?

Dunno about 35 lb... but the way that I deal with individual jars of crystallised honey is as follows - add a teaspoonful of (boiled?) water (remember this for about a pound), then place in a really low oven (85C?) for a couple of hours, stir occasionally to get everything that is going to to dissolve, keep it hot, but then let it stand for a while, (so any bits, undissolved crystals, whatever, sink), then pour off into an equally hot (sterile clean) jar (to avoid cracking the glass or cooling the honey), but keep back the dregs with any bits, then put fresh jar(s) of honey back into the oven, turn off the oven and allow them to cool really slowly with the oven.
You want the honey to be a saturated (or slightly super-saturated) solution at room temp. So, you need to remove any crystallisation nuclei and cool it really really slowly.

This is fine if you want to get the honey re-liquefied and you are going to use it straight away but adding water to honey that you are going to store long term is asking for trouble - It will begin to ferment due to the natural yeasts in the honey.

You need to reheat the honey very slowly using a bain marie - it will re-liquefy given enough time - don't whatever you do allow water to get into the honey

Mrs Fiddlesticks

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 10460

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 07 6:43 pm Post subject:

jocorless wrote:

dougal wrote:

Pilsbury wrote:

agreed. Are you going to re-sell the honey Pilsbury? As anything you do to it will change it slightly. So over heating it will remove some of its health giving properties (you risk turning it in to any old sweet product)

There is something about the water content of honey, - there is a gadget for measuring it, can't remember what it is right now - and its got to have a certain water content and not above to be legal I think.

Pilsbury

Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 5645
Location: East london/Essex

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 07 7:01 pm Post subject:

not going to sell it, it was brought in for a perticular residant and so its his personal property, I just have to store it in a clean safe way incase we get inspected by any of the health organisations or the company I work for so it cant stay in its plastic bucket. I have to split it down into manageable quantities and store it for him to have as and when he wants it.
so bain marie it is thenand I will leave the bucket sealed when I put it in the hot water but not put it on the stove, I will just change the water every hour or so and check as I go to fill up the jars as it gets runny

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