> I dunno folks, but manufacturing something out of a nearly perfect natural
> resource seems full of hard work and red tape.

What is interesting is that no one so far yet has said "Wow! What great idea. I
tried it and I'm going to propose this to my co-op or start taking it to the
farmer's market."  Maybe I'll have to wait until after breakfast tomorrow when
some people on the list have actually tried honey thinned to commercial pancake
syrup consistency.

I'd sure like to hear from anyone who has actually tried my idea and I sure do
hope some people actually do get around to making syrup just the way I suggest
and get back to the list about their experience.  Honey thinned to syrup is NOT
like thick honey at all when applied to pancakes.  The taste and effect is
ENTIRELY DIFFERENT from anything you have ever tried.  You are in for a HUGE
surprise.  Try it, then tell me it isn't.  Or else tell everyone the surprise
part of it that I have so far held back.

It doesn't take much water to thin the honey to a syrup, so high moisture honey
might be just fine as it is. I suspect, though, that that around 25% to 30%
moisture would be ideal for most tastes. People are always wondering what to do
with high moisture honey, we'll here's your answer.  Just heat it to 125 degrees
F for four hours and package it into sterile, sealed containers or keep it
refrigerated -- or frozen -- if you don't pasteurise it.  (Or thin it some more
to make a honey 'power drink' or add yeast and make mead).

Anyhow, thinned honey is much more like the syrups that most people are
accustomed to and are therefore likely to try, then adopt.  People have had a
chance to use full-strength honey on pancakes and waffles and it just hasn't
been a huge runaway hit like maple syrup, so I suspect that it never will be.
Don't forget that cars were initially made to look like buggies so that they
could gain public acceptance.  Maybe we have to resemble the familiar popular
syrups in viscosity and packaging to gain acceptance.

> seems full of hard work and red tape.

What worthwhile project isn't?

Another ingredient required to develop a new product is cash.  Many new products
fail, yet it seems to me that if the co-ops have the financial depth and the
reach.  If one or more were to package a pure honey syrup and distribute it --
perhaps free initially -- (with the right 'natural' spin) to pancake restaurant
chains that we would suddenly have a huge new market.  (Where *is* that Honey
Board we all pay a toll to)?

> In my book, although I really do like Pure Maple Syrup, Honey as it comes
> out of the bottle, comb, extractor, hive is already a pretty good waffle
> or pancake dressing.

How many people can buy that, and for how much of the year?  And -- trust me --
honey syrup, made right, from good honey, will make you forget about maple
syrup.

> I'm no marketing whiz, but I'll wager just packaging it in a traditional
> pancake syrup bottle (narrow neck more convenient for pouring) and
> labelling it "Pure Honey for Pancakes and Waffles" would do the trick.

Might work with yours, but mine is just too thick for most people, including me.
So is the product we market from the co-ops as Number One, even if it is 18.6%
moisture.

> We could even add "Nature's perfect natural syrup."  And for the Green
> Market, "not a single cord of wood used in processing."

Good idea.  Now you are talking.  Seems to me the time is right for this
dyn-O-mite product.

Let's (somebody) do it!

allen