showing honey question.

[biglongdarren]

when showing jars of honey,does most people drive to the show with an old lid on and change to the new one at the show or do they place the new lid on some days before so as the aroma builds up in the jar?
i have a show on saturday and have the new clean lids on now but cant see mee driving 40 miles without honey getting on the underside if the lid.
Darren

 

[blackcavebees]

Was thinking the same thing, and I'll see you Saturday! Trade off between loosing aroma and getting honey on lid. Are you entering you famous Heather honey?

 

[For want of a better word]

An there was me thinking of putting in an empty jar at out Honey Fayre.... but I do not think the local association top table heirachy would have got it !

 

[adrian wilford]

also after putting lids on there is often a white mark left by the seal so this needs cleaning off to. i take the lids off at the venue to clean them and replace asap, agree some aroma will be lost

 

[biglongdarren]

yea i'll be there,i would hardly call it famous,i cant seem to be able to get it completely clear after strining the life out of it.
i cant see it doing very well to be fair.
Darren

 

[blackcavebees]

yea i'll be there,i would hardly call it famous,i cant seem to be able to get it completely clear after strining the life out of it.
i cant see it doing very well to be fair.
Darren

I don't think you can get the heather honey completely clear like with some light stuff. Don't forget the tasting category

 

[drstitson]

NO NO NO NO NO.

aroma will be lost.

seal at least several days before show AND don't change lids.

judges are looking for honey in the thread (obvious on opening) NOT transit stickiness - that is official line from NHS judges.

that means bottling in good time to allow bubbles to rise on windowsill, followed by a skimming/popping session, followed by sealing.

 

[Teemore]

I had some medium honey earmarked for the show on Saturday - was planning to enter the 6 jar category- but even after spending some time in the warming cabinet there are still annoying micro bubbles in the jars. They show up when i shine an LED torch through the honey. As of last night I only had three jars of medium honey which I would consider entering from that batch. Oh, well, still a lot to learn and this will only be the third honey show i have entered.

 

[Davelin]

I was advised by national judge never to remove lids prior to showing as aroma was one of the criteria they judged on. Honey smears on the lid much less important.

 

[blackcavebees]

I had some medium honey earmarked for the show on Saturday - was planning to enter the 6 jar category- but even after spending some time in the warming cabinet there are still annoying micro bubbles in the jars. They show up when i shine an LED torch through the honey. As of last night I only had three jars of medium honey which I would consider entering from that batch. Oh, well, still a lot to learn and this will only be the third honey show i have entered.

I think all jars in a category need to be identical, that was what Gail said to me in mid-Antrim when one had less than the other. It's a bit of fun anyway and a learning curve ... Have a go anyway, if you're not in you can't win

 

[For want of a better word]

I had some medium honey earmarked for the show on Saturday - was planning to enter the 6 jar category- but even after spending some time in the warming cabinet there are still annoying micro bubbles in the jars. They show up when i shine an LED torch through the honey. As of last night I only had three jars of medium honey which I would consider entering from that batch. Oh, well, still a lot to learn and this will only be the third honey show i have entered.

Put the warmed jars on top of the washing machine on spin cycle.... bubbles will rise
Someone told me to watch the barometer when bottling honey and not to do it if the mercury was falling.. or was it the moon waxing ??

​

 

[masterBK]

The presence of Microbubbles suspended within the honey are considered a minor fault by judges but lots of froth on the top is not liked. Air bubbles in a honey with a high viscosity do take a long time to rise so that you can skim them off. If you take care with your bottling you can minimise it. In a honey with very high viscosity eg ling heather honey (a thyxotropic gel) the bubbles are to be expected and the bigger the better (but you must compensate for the air by putting more honey in the jar to meet the 454 g expected). As mentioned on other posts if anyone has a specific query regarding showing honey etc give me a pm and I'll do my best to answer it.