Can Crystallized Chunk Honey be used to make creamed honey?

[tillie]

I just got back from the Young Harris Beekeeping Institute where one of the best workshops I went to was on making creamed honey - I've never done it but have some honey from last year that is crystallizing.  I plan to try my first creamed honey with those four jars. 

I also have some chunk honey that is crystallizing.  Is it possible to use it for creamed honey?  Wax melts at about 125 Fahrenheit and you have to heat the liquid for creamed honey to 120 - I think that's cutting it really close. 

Has anyone tried turning a crystallizing bottle of chunk honey into creamed honey?  If it's possible to do it, what is the secret?


Linda T

[Robo]

With a mortar, pestle and a little elbow action you can reduce the size of the crystals and turn ordinary crystallized honey into creamed honey.  In fact this is a recommended option for creating your own seed.

[tillie]

My concern is that chunk honey has a chunk of wax in the middle of it.  If I want to use it for creamed honey and it is honey that is already crystallizing, then I can't easily separate the liquid honey around the chunk from the wax comb. 

I wondered how I might melt the current crystal to free the liquid to use in creamed honey.

Linda T in Atlanta

[Paraplegic Racehorse]

Pan of water, heat, patience. :)

Seriously, if your chunk of comb is stuck in the crystallized honey, this is the easiest way to free it. Bring the heat up slowly, allow the honey to liquefy then remove the comb. If you were after some crystals, you may be able to collect some from the honey before they all melt.

[annette]

OH I thought wax melted at 140???

[Michael Bush]

I never heat my honey even to make creamed honey.  It just spoils the flavor.  I just set it on the window sill in the fall or winter and it usually crystallized quite smoothly.  If not, I can always grind it in a flour grinder.

[L Daxon]

Can you take a jar of crystallized honey and turn it into creamed honey using a Cuisinart food processor?

[iddee]

Heat it. If the wax melts, it will just gather on the top and you can lift out a chunk of pure wax when it cools.

[tillie]

My creamed honey made from honey in chunk honey jars as well as some honey that was crystallizing on its own won a blue ribbon at EAS this year!  Thanks for the help.

Linda T

[iddee]

Congratulations... Do each of us get a small piece of ribbon snipped from the big one?   :-D   :-D

[AllenF]

Linda, I love that oversized brood frame model you made.  Just had to tell you that.

[tillie]

iddee:  I think everything I know has in some way come from this forum, so every time I win a ribbon or get noticed in some way, I think I learned from all the wonderful people in this group who are so willing to share.

Allen:  I'm in Rabun County now and the Foxfire/Mountaineer festival is tomorrow.  I hope my big model of a frame actually has impact - you know I'll post about it whether or not it works out.  I can report that it was easy to transport and if it works well tomorrow (I'm teaching a children's workshop at 11 and at 2:30), I'm sure I'll use it over and over for teaching purposes.

[Kathyp]

linda, i have warmed buckets of honey enough to get them flowing by setting them in a sink of hot tap water.  just had to change the water from time to time to keep it hot.  i see no reason you couldn't do the same with your honey.  you could probably speed things up by heating the water on the stove and taking it off before adding the container.  it also helps to roll the container from time to time so that the warmed honey gets next to the solid core.

as for the chunk in your chunked honey...why not just eat it and enjoy?   :-D

linda....a little OT, but how did you make out after the hive loss to flooding.  did you get everything replaced/found?

[tillie]

Hi Kathy,

We moved the apiary location at Blue Heron to higher ground and people donated boxes and we replaced the bees and used some of the old boxes that were found along the creek bank.  It was quite an event.  It was just a year ago and the Atlanta Journal just wrote a piece on my beekeeping buddy, Julia, and the loss of the Blue Heron hives.

We are back up and running this year and hope to make it through the winter.

Thanks for asking, albeit a little off-topic.

Linda T