I extracted about 1 gallon of uncapped nectar just to get it out of the super frames to prepare for winter. It had about 25% moisture content as I expected.
I was thinking about feeding this back to the bees mixted with their sugar syrup.
But I left the nectar out for about 3 weeks in tightly covered bowl and not sure if it has fermented at all. Tasting it I am not sure. It has some sharpness too it, but not sure if that is nectar flavor or beginning of fermentation.
Any thoughts on if I should just toss it. Its not a big deal as it would only save me a couple bucks of sugar, but, I like the idea of giving it back to them since the honey smell may entice them to collect it more from the feeder (and maybe some more nutrients than just plain sugar water.)
Thoughts appreciated.
I did just bring the gallon of honey up to about 200 degrees F with a quart of water just to kill any lingering bacteria, but of course that won't rid it of any other fermentation products.
Interested in thoughts from those who have fed back nectar / honey.
My thoughts are these...If you had the honey exposed to the elements for that long of a time I would not feed to the bees. Not enough to be worth taking a chance and hurting your bees. Use it for cooking or make some mead.