Al Delicata, for whom the EAS prize for comb honey is named,
taught me most of what I know about showing honey, and what I got
out of it was most failures come during the visual inspection of
the jar and contents. Moisture content is next. The tie breaker
is taste and that can be subjective, so getting past the visual
is most important. Same for comb honey.
Which means clean, imperfection free jar, lid and honey. That
includes the inside of the jar lid. The judges are looking for
anything to disqualify an entree. They are not looking forward to
judging by taste, because then there can be disagreements between
the judges. But find an insignificant ripple in the glass, a
speck of pollen or bubble in the honey, a bit of wax or foam on
the top, a tiny scratch on the inside or edge of the jar lid and
out it goes. No disagreement because it can be seen.
Same for comb honey. White cappings, no open cells and uniform
from edge to edge and same for the other side. The plastic or
wood must be clean and imperfection free. There is no free
honey.... again, what you see....
Bill T
Bath, ME