Tips for Making Creamed Honey

Controlling Heat and Moisture in Honey

The three most important quality control factors in dealing with honey are completely within your control. Too much heat, too much moisture and too many bees' legs are the three things that can most easily damage your product and reduce sales.

Heat is an easy one for the hobbyist, nothing at all like the problem that it presents for the commercial beekeeper. There is no reason in the world that the small scale beekeepers needs to heat their honey at all. Apart from the heat of the uncapping knife, honey can be handled at room temperature. If you extract it immediately after removing it from the hive, so much the better.

Excess moisture, leading to off flavours and fermentation, can be avoided through attention all the way through the honey-from-the-hive to honey-in-the- jar process. Don't extract honey until it is thoroughly ripened. Often, especially if the flow is still on, it may not all be completely capped. Take a frame and shake it over the open hive; if it is thoroughly ripened, it should not shake like water out of the comb. Once you have extracted the honey, keep the containers covered. Honey can take moisture from the air, so don't leave it exposed, especially if you have to store it in moist or less than favourable locations.
Straining.Try to avoid incorporating small air bubbles with the honey as you run it through a fine strainer. Don't simply let it drip through the strainer and into a container; place something in the container so the honey will run down rather than fall into the honey already in the container. No matter how well you strain the honey after extracting, you will still need to 'skim' it a day or so later. The froth that floats to the surface of the honey will contain small bubbles and wax particles. Gently skimming it from the surface of the honey container will remove it and greatly improve the visual quality of your honey.

Nick Wallingford, The NZ Beekeeper. No. 194 Winter 1987, pp 18-19.


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Tips for Making Creamed Honey Controlling Heat and Moisture in Honey The three most important quality control factors in dealing with honey are completely within your control. Too much heat, too much moisture and too many bees' legs are the three things that can most easily damage your product and reduce sales. Heat is an easy one for the hobbyist, nothing at all like the problem that it presents for the commercial beekeeper. There is no reason in the world that the small scale beekeepers needs to heat their honey at all. Apart from the heat of the uncapping knife, honey can be handled at room temperature. If you extract it immediately after removing it from the hive, so much the better. Excess moisture, leading to off flavours and fermentation, can be avoided through attention all the way through the honey-from-the-hive to honey-in-the- jar process. Don't extract honey until it is thoroughly ripened. Often, especially if the flow is still on, it may not all be completely capped. Take a frame and shake it over the open hive; if it is thoroughly ripened, it should not shake like water out of the comb. Once you have extracted the honey, keep the containers covered. Honey can take moisture from the air, so don't leave it exposed, especially if you have to store it in moist or less than favourable locations. Straining.Try to avoid incorporating small air bubbles with the honey as you run it through a fine strainer. Don't simply let it drip through the strainer and into a container; place something in the container so the honey will run down rather than fall into the honey already in the container. No matter how well you strain the honey after extracting, you will still need to 'skim' it a day or so later. The froth that floats to the surface of the honey will contain small bubbles and wax particles. Gently skimming it from the surface of the honey container will remove it and greatly improve the visual quality of your honey. Nick Wallingford, The NZ Beekeeper. No. 194 Winter 1987, pp 18-19.