Dear BEE-L,
        Lisa Siciliano has asked "What do beekeepers wonder about regarding
the specific properties of honey?"
        Although I have made a lot of creamed honey and have read a lot on
the subject I have never understood what is really happening at the
microscopic crystallite level during the creaming process. The assumption
has been that the "seed" crystals grow in size during the 57 degree "curing"
stage, but if that were true one wonders why the final product isn't much
more coarsely grained than the starting "seed" honey. Maybe it is, and the
human tongue isn't sensitive enough to detect the difference. But maybe
another possibility is that the seeds don't grow but rather that they
somehow REPLICATE themselves.
        I would think this would be a very useful question for a high school
student to investigate if she has access to microscopes and a controlled
temperature chamber for making the creamed honey and/or a temperature
controlled microscopic stage. It ought to result in some publishable
pictures, I would think, for the major bee journals if she is able to take
photo micrographs and if she has a clearly defined result.
                                Ernie Huber