Top Dollar

[jenkinsbrynmair]

None of my honey from last year crystallised. I have one jar left and it’s completely runny and devoid of crystals. Perhaps I will get some that crystallises this year. I would like to try making soft set.

just seed it with 10% soft set honey - buy some decent stuff (not mazola) somewhere

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Reported in the same thread to work well with blossom honey.
At least this way you don’t have to melt every last existing crystal

to be honest, still don't fancy it - whisked honey rather than set

 

[Into the lions den]

Mmmn me thinks trading standards need a call https://www.amazon.co.uk/Honey-Australia-Premium-Manuka-Wonderful/dp/B07GBNZ218

its the Cornish info that is fictitious...Manuka DOES grow in Australia too....used to be known as Jellybush but its the same plant, Leptospermum scoparium.

also...and I know it is from different posters. Raw is used as a highly disingenuous way of denigrating other producers honey by implying that the product of other beekeepers..leaving the big boys out of it for now...is somehow inferior as if the do not say its is raw the seeds of doubt about the use of high heat and pasteurisation are sown. It is a lie by implication and you can always hide behind the claim you did not actually knock the honey of your fellow beekeepers but by claiming spuriously that yours is superior you are doing so. Using a term that is meaningless, and almost every jar of artisan UK honey can claim the same properties without resorting to a word that implies yours is better.

Also the pasteurisation bit is an utter straw man. Any of you been round any of the big packers on a visit not part of an organised (and thus massaged) tour? They are pretty good at what they do...the nearest to pasteurisation (which is pretty specific in its meaning) is hot filling for long shelf life clear honey....but the main property for long shelf life is the F/G ratio of the raw material honey rather than some gross malpractice by the businesses concerned. HMF is a function of temperature and time....flash heating does no more damage than long term heating.

We seem again to be looking bit in a way that small = angelic and great big = bad and less competent. Truth is these guys do what THEIR market wants, they KNOW their product meets all the tests and they have serious staff devoted to meeting all these rules. They do not sell overheated honey as it is tested all the time by the authorities.

The little guys do not have the facilities or the expertise to do all this..but its NOT the same market and you would not be expected to.

Professional outfits producee large amounts of satisfactory mass market honey for a clientelle who want a safe middle of the road at a price they can afford. They do the job very well. However with scale come middle of the road properties..a mediocrity in the old fashioned sense where it just mean medium..not poor.

Go to the honey of the small beekepers and beekeeper packers you will see the whole gamut from excellent to truly awful. What it says on the label about raw or any other spurious words seems to have almost zero relevance to the quality in the jar. The very best and very worst comes from the small guys, as does the conviction that some of the the best honey in the world is from their own area.

Been through this discussion hundreds of times. Accentuate the positives in your product. Resist knocking others, even by implication.

All these jars illustrated on this thread look great btw...congrats to all for a good job.

 

[Erichalfbee]

to be honest, still don't fancy it - whisked honey rather than set

Will see. It’s supposed to break the crystals down rather than whisk air in.

 

[Ian123]

Ah but Murray you are forgetting these big packers are bad boys who want to make a profit heaven forbid........who was the forum member who made up labels.

 

[E&MBees]

just seed it with 10% soft set honey - buy some decent stuff (not mazola) somewhere

Just need to hope that this year is better than last year and I get a little more honey and the bees don’t throw too many spanner’s to take me out!

 

[E&MBees]

to be honest, still don't fancy it - whisked honey rather than set

If you don’t like to whisk / paddle / gently stir etc honey, how do you like incorporate the seed honey into the honey that you want to set? Do you choose to start the process with runny honey rather than a honey that has set on extraction which is then warmed and seeded? Thanks

 

[Apple]

Ah but Murray you are forgetting these big packers are bad boys who want to make a profit heaven forbid........who was the forum member who made up labels.

And ... import cheap honey from countries who have little or no regulation.... No CE certification on honey!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

If you don’t like to whisk / paddle / gently stir etc honey, how do you like incorporate the seed honey into the honey that you want to set? Do you choose to start the process with runny honey rather than a honey that has set on extraction which is then warmed and seeded? Thanks

You use liquid honey, or heat up the honey until liquid, bring down the temperature to around 34 degrees (and warm the seeed to the same temperature, then stirr in the seed, you mix it until the seed is fully incorporated (using a corkscrew stirrer or similar) quickly bring the honey temperature down to about 12-15 degrees and keep it at that temperature for a few days, stirring for a minute or two each day, it should then be set to a gloopy pourable consistency for bottling, another few days at a cool temperature should see it nicely set in the jars.

 

[Ian123]

And ... import cheap honey from countries who have little or no regulation.... No CE certification on honey!

You really must be fun at parties

 

[CaptainCymru]

its the Cornish info that is fictitious...Manuka DOES grow in Australia too....used to be known as Jellybush but its the same plant, Leptospermum scoparium.

also...and I know it is from different posters. Raw is used as a highly disingenuous way of denigrating other producers honey by implying that the product of other beekeepers..leaving the big boys out of it for now...is somehow inferior as if the do not say its is raw the seeds of doubt about the use of high heat and pasteurisation are sown. It is a lie by implication and you can always hide behind the claim you did not actually knock the honey of your fellow beekeepers but by claiming spuriously that yours is superior you are doing so. Using a term that is meaningless, and almost every jar of artisan UK honey can claim the same properties without resorting to a word that implies yours is better.

Also the pasteurisation bit is an utter straw man. Any of you been round any of the big packers on a visit not part of an organised (and thus massaged) tour? They are pretty good at what they do...the nearest to pasteurisation (which is pretty specific in its meaning) is hot filling for long shelf life clear honey....but the main property for long shelf life is the F/G ratio of the raw material honey rather than some gross malpractice by the businesses concerned. HMF is a function of temperature and time....flash heating does no more damage than long term heating.

We seem again to be looking bit in a way that small = angelic and great big = bad and less competent. Truth is these guys do what THEIR market wants, they KNOW their product meets all the tests and they have serious staff devoted to meeting all these rules. They do not sell overheated honey as it is tested all the time by the authorities.

The little guys do not have the facilities or the expertise to do all this..but its NOT the same market and you would not be expected to.

Professional outfits producee large amounts of satisfactory mass market honey for a clientelle who want a safe middle of the road at a price they can afford. They do the job very well. However with scale come middle of the road properties..a mediocrity in the old fashioned sense where it just mean medium..not poor.

Go to the honey of the small beekepers and beekeeper packers you will see the whole gamut from excellent to truly awful. What it says on the label about raw or any other spurious words seems to have almost zero relevance to the quality in the jar. The very best and very worst comes from the small guys, as does the conviction that some of the the best honey in the world is from their own area.

Been through this discussion hundreds of times. Accentuate the positives in your product. Resist knocking others, even by implication.

All these jars illustrated on this thread look great btw...congrats to all for a good job.

Artisan honey , another great thing to put on the label, thanks !

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

We had some locally made 'Artisan' sourdough bread delivered to us last week
It was as dry as a nun's nasty
The bits that weren't burnt that is

 

[Repwoc]

Yes I did. Quite keen to try it.

You must have got the last one!

 

[drex]

Indeed that prompted my question.
The article also had me spending £60 at Thorne

My "whisk" is a stainless steel spaghetti ladle that I have beaten flat. Goes into the chuck of my cordless drill. Whisked for 2-3 mins 2-3 times a day for a couple of days. Has done a wonderful job for several years now and cost me about £2.

 

[enrico]

its the Cornish info that is fictitious...Manuka DOES grow in Australia too....used to be known as Jellybush but its the same plant, Leptospermum scoparium.

also...and I know it is from different posters. Raw is used as a highly disingenuous way of denigrating other producers honey by implying that the product of other beekeepers..leaving the big boys out of it for now...is somehow inferior as if the do not say its is raw the seeds of doubt about the use of high heat and pasteurisation are sown. It is a lie by implication and you can always hide behind the claim you did not actually knock the honey of your fellow beekeepers but by claiming spuriously that yours is superior you are doing so. Using a term that is meaningless, and almost every jar of artisan UK honey can claim the same properties without resorting to a word that implies yours is better.

Also the pasteurisation bit is an utter straw man. Any of you been round any of the big packers on a visit not part of an organised (and thus massaged) tour? They are pretty good at what they do...the nearest to pasteurisation (which is pretty specific in its meaning) is hot filling for long shelf life clear honey....but the main property for long shelf life is the F/G ratio of the raw material honey rather than some gross malpractice by the businesses concerned. HMF is a function of temperature and time....flash heating does no more damage than long term heating.

We seem again to be looking bit in a way that small = angelic and great big = bad and less competent. Truth is these guys do what THEIR market wants, they KNOW their product meets all the tests and they have serious staff devoted to meeting all these rules. They do not sell overheated honey as it is tested all the time by the authorities.

The little guys do not have the facilities or the expertise to do all this..but its NOT the same market and you would not be expected to.

Professional outfits producee large amounts of satisfactory mass market honey for a clientelle who want a safe middle of the road at a price they can afford. They do the job very well. However with scale come middle of the road properties..a mediocrity in the old fashioned sense where it just mean medium..not poor.

Go to the honey of the small beekepers and beekeeper packers you will see the whole gamut from excellent to truly awful. What it says on the label about raw or any other spurious words seems to have almost zero relevance to the quality in the jar. The very best and very worst comes from the small guys, as does the conviction that some of the the best honey in the world is from their own area.

Been through this discussion hundreds of times. Accentuate the positives in your product. Resist knocking others, even by implication.

All these jars illustrated on this thread look great btw...congrats to all for a good job.

It is a lie by implication
Oh! Please!!!! What tosh!

 

[Repwoc]

...who was the forum member who made up labels.

@nantmoel I think.

 

[Erichalfbee]

My "whisk" is a stainless steel spaghetti ladle that I have beaten flat. Goes into the chuck of my cordless drill. Whisked for 2-3 mins 2-3 times a day for a couple of days. Has done a wonderful job for several years now and cost me about £2.

I’ve made soft set this way for some years. The last batch of 30lb turned out grainy. I must presume I hadn’t melted the batch properly. Just fancied trying something different.

 

[Into the lions den]

It is a lie by implication
Oh! Please!!!! What tosh!

It is the denigration of your fellow beekeepers product by using the meaningless (in honey descriptions) word 'raw'...then raising the straw man of pasteurisation...and thus inviting the interpretation that other beekeepers honey is NOT raw. Its utterly false and DOES...even though not explicitly stated..entice the gullible purchaser to think YOUR honey is untampered with and other peoples....equally artisan...... is inferior.

Lies come in all forms....from little white ones to great big black ones, and this type...painting a picture that invites people to think badly of a different yet equivalent beekeepers product is still a category of lie.

 

[Into the lions den]

I’ve made soft set this way for some years. The last batch of 30lb turned out grainy. I must presume I hadn’t melted the batch properly. Just fancied trying something different.

Some floral source honey types..esp those with a high F/G ratio...are just not conducive to working as set honey. Don't know what type you have there but that could be a reason. If you live in an area with very varied forage..then the weather patterns each year can lead to very different honey properties. Makes it very interesting rather than the 'same most years' that we get.

 

[drex]

As ITLD says different honey crops are very variable. I sieve mine as it comes out of extractor into 30lb buckets. I let it sit in the bucket for a few weeks in order to determine how it will set ( or not). If it naturally shows a tendency to set that is how I will process it, ( as soft set if the initial set is hard and crystalline). If it remains runny, then it is processed as runny honey. Runny honey is a rarity in my apiary, so I do not want to waste it by inadvertently setting it