My most regular customer

[Amari]

This time the honey was 'too thick'.......

 

[Erichalfbee]

This time the honey was 'too thick'.......

I wonder how many more adjectives she can apply to your honey?

 

[The Poot]

Relabel a jar of lemon curd for her and see what she comes up with?

 

[Amari]

I wonder how many more adjectives she can apply to your honey?

It may take a few years to exhaust her repertoire of adjectives. I'll do my best to report each variant on here as time goes by...

 

[WoodenBeam]

This time the honey was 'too thick'.......

Amari you have the patience of a saint!

If it had been due to the debris on the inside left of the jar I’d have understood

 

[Murox]

For this relationship to continue to work well for both of you, you both need to 'get something out of it'.

 

[pargyle]

It looks like naturally set honey and pretty granular... if she is used to a smoother set it may be the problem on this occasion, more so if the lady does have learning difficulties as it would need more explanation than, perhaps, she can cope with. She, clearly, has a very limited tolerance of what she considers the 'right sort of honey for her'.. unless you can establish what this is and replicate it every time - you are never going to get past this problem. Your patience is admirable.

I have a regular customer who actually prefers naturally set honey and I usually leave a few jars put by and allow them to set just for him - it's surprising how much difference there is when honey sets naturally - some forms very coarse crystals and some is very hard set, some very fine crystals and almost soft set. Fortunately, I spent some time explaining that jar set honey can be a bit of a lottery and he understands and I think, actually, likes the variation - he's always at pains to tell me that 'it's natural'. Long live variety - even in customers (as long as they understand !)

 

[drex]

I know Amari has kept bees much longer than I have. I believe he jars OSR straight from the tank.
I get a more "consistent " ( although no such thing with honey) soft set, if I let it set, warm to dissolve all crystals, cool and then seed. I keep some seed honey from year to year.

 

[Arfermo]

What do you reply when, last week, your most regular customer, in this case Brenda (not her real name), returns a jar with a scoop of honey removed, saying that the honey is too sweet? For good measure she complained that the jar was 'too small' - I have recently changed from 16 to 12 oz jars so as to keep the price the same.
For many years Brenda would tell me that she buys all her honey in Tescos because she likes it best, but for the last year has patronised me via my sales box on the grass verge outside our house.
In this time she has returned quite a few jars with a scoop removed, most commonly because the honey is too hard or too runny. She has obviously been accustomed to the unchanging nature of the Tesco product.
Brenda is a lady with learning difficulties. She lives alone but has wide community support - and respect.
It just goes to show that we must realise that the customer is always right........

Not likely to be pleased to be told to get stuffed I suppose. Not your type either?

 

[Antipodes]

I know Amari has kept bees much longer than I have. I believe he jars OSR straight from the tank.
I get a more "consistent " ( although no such thing with honey) soft set, if I let it set, warm to dissolve all crystals, cool and then seed. I keep some seed honey from year to year.

According to this article, stored very cold (-20c), results in finer grains but at 20c, coarse grains and then between 4-10c, mixed size.
https://www.researchgate.net/public...lization_Mechanism_evaluation_and_application

 

[understanding_bees]

What do you reply when, last week, your most regular customer, in this case Brenda (not her real name), returns a jar with a scoop of honey removed, saying that the honey is too sweet? For good measure she complained that the jar was 'too small' - I have recently changed from 16 to 12 oz jars so as to keep the price the same.

For many years Brenda would tell me that she buys all her honey in Tescos because she likes it best, but for the last year has patronised me via my sales box on the grass verge outside our house.
In this time she has returned quite a few jars with a scoop removed, most commonly because the honey is too hard or too runny. She has obviously been accustomed to the unchanging nature of the Tesco product.

Brenda is a lady with learning difficulties. She lives alone but has wide community support - and respect.

It just goes to show that we must realise that the customer is always right........

What do you reply when, last week, your most regular customer . . . .

. . . . saying that the honey is too sweet?

. . . . she buys all her honey in Tescos because she likes it best

. . . . the honey is too hard or too runny.

. . . . the unchanging nature of the Tesco product.

. . . . It just goes to show that we must realise that the customer is always right........

Perhaps the most important thing to do is to establish whether the various objections are just “excuses”, or whether they are really valid complaints. I think that the answer, in the customer’s mind, is contained in your comment about “the unchanging nature of the Tesco product”.

The reasons you have noted, “too sweet”, “too hard”, “too runny”, are ways that the customer has used to indicate that there have been actual variations in different batches of honey which have been harvested from the bees.

The most important thing to do in a case like this is to say that it is the bees who are always right. Perhaps you can explain that the unchanging nature of the named product may possibly be due to it having been adulterated. After all, there have been so many comments in recent times about adulterated honey, or artificial honey, being sold to an unsuspecting public.

Try to explain that bees make honey from many different types of flowers, or nectars. This results in lots of variations in flavour of different types of honey. Some honey may be sweeter than others, and I believe it is claimed that honey is sweeter than sugar. In this case it could be explained that the sweetness is just part of the inherent nature of honey. Similarly, hard or soft, candied or runny, can rightly be explained as a consequence of the nectar which the bees have collected. Perhaps it could also be explained that it is very natural for honey to become candied. In most instances, there might be a suspicion that honey which remains runny has been artificially modified, or may not be completely pure.

 

[ericbeaumont]

produce the 12oz jar and charge a bit less than for the 16oz jar; also offer the 16 oz jar at a slightly increased price

Depends on your starting point.

Down here I get £9.50 for a 340g. If I sold in 454g I'd be asking £12.

Up-market or niche outlets might get that, but not at market every fortnight all year round, even in London.

First table are my old prices, second the latest, in pence per gramme; sale price in brackets. About three people noticed, no-one complained:

.0264 p/g
340 / 8.97 (9.00)
227 / 5.99 (6.00)
135 / 3.56 (3.50)

.0278 p/g
340 / 9.45 (9.50)
235 / 6.53 (6.50)
135 / 3.75 (3.75)

The aim of abandoning the 454 is to maximise the return without hitting the £10 barrier.

 

[Amari]

What do you reply when, last week, your most regular customer . . . .

. . . . saying that the honey is too sweet?

. . . . she buys all her honey in Tescos because she likes it best

. . . . the honey is too hard or too runny.

. . . . the unchanging nature of the Tesco product.

. . . . It just goes to show that we must realise that the customer is always right........

Perhaps the most important thing to do is to establish whether the various objections are just “excuses”, or whether they are really valid complaints. I think that the answer, in the customer’s mind, is contained in your comment about “the unchanging nature of the Tesco product”.

The reasons you have noted, “too sweet”, “too hard”, “too runny”, are ways that the customer has used to indicate that there have been actual variations in different batches of honey which have been harvested from the bees.

The most important thing to do in a case like this is to say that it is the bees who are always right. Perhaps you can explain that the unchanging nature of the named product may possibly be due to it having been adulterated. After all, there have been so many comments in recent times about adulterated honey, or artificial honey, being sold to an unsuspecting public.

Try to explain that bees make honey from many different types of flowers, or nectars. This results in lots of variations in flavour of different types of honey. Some honey may be sweeter than others, and I believe it is claimed that honey is sweeter than sugar. In this case it could be explained that the sweetness is just part of the inherent nature of honey. Similarly, hard or soft, candied or runny, can rightly be explained as a consequence of the nectar which the bees have collected. Perhaps it could also be explained that it is very natural for honey to become candied. In most instances, there might be a suspicion that honey which remains runny has been artificially modified, or may not be completely pure.

Many thanks for your thoughts.
Unfortunately Brenda is not one to savour an explanation of the finer details of mellifero-crystallography. I find it easier to suffer in silence.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Many thanks for your thoughts.
Unfortunately Brenda is not one to savour an explanation of the finer details of honey crystallography. I find it easier to suffer in silence.

You’re doing really well you know. You’re keeping her happy and us entertained.

 

[Amari]

I know Amari has kept bees much longer than I have. I believe he jars OSR straight from the tank.
I get a more "consistent " ( although no such thing with honey) soft set, if I let it set, warm to dissolve all crystals, cool and then seed. I keep some seed honey from year to year.

Yes, Des, I used to jar from the tank but you and others persuaded me to jar from the bucket several years ago!

"Warm to dissolve all crystals"?: I thought best practice is to warm to 32-35C for 24-48 hours, stir several times, then jar, with seed if needed, = runny enough to jar but still crystalline, Shirley?. 'Dissolving all crystals' needs heating to 55C?

 

[Amari]

You’re doing really well you know. You’re keeping her happy and us entertained.

A few years ago I sat next to Brenda at our annual harvest supper in the village hall.

Brenda: "Put your napkin on your lap"

Me: "OK, but why don't you do the same?"

Brenda: "Because I don't drip food down my front like you do".......

 

[Curly green finger's]

A few years ago I sat next to Brenda at our annual harvest supper in the village hall.

Brenda: "Put your napkin on your lap"

Me: "OK, but why don't you do the same?"

Brenda: "Because I don't drip food down my front like you do".......

She sounds like a right stickler you are doing well.

 

[drex]

Yes, Des, I used to jar from the tank but you and others persuaded me to jar from the bucket several years ago!

"Warm to dissolve all crystals"?: I thought best practice is to warm to 32-35C for 24-48 hours, stir several times, then jar, with seed if needed, = runny enough to jar but still crystalline, Shirley?. 'Dissolving all crystals' needs heating to 55C?

I can usually get mine to dissolve at about 45C with stirring. In my experience OSR tends to form large crystals left to its own devices. My thinking is that if any large crystals remain they will act as seed- to produce large crystals. That is why I introduce a seed of fine crystals. Might be wrong. Forgotten most of my chemistry and physics .

 

[ericbeaumont]

OSR tends to form large crystals left to its own devices

Surely fast crystallization (such as OSR) results in small crystals, and slow to large?

 

[Antipodes]

Surely fast crystallization (such as OSR) results in small crystals, and slow to large?

Supposed to work like that isn't it, and if so, have you ever tried to reduce crystal size by speeding up crystallisation, even of quick crystallising honey?