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From:
Mats Andersson <[log in to unmask]>
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Date:
Sun, 28 Oct 2001 08:56:51 +0100
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Lloyd Spear wrote:
"With regard to liquid honey, Mats said "Since making creamed honey is sim=
pler, it
would obviously also be more economical."

Mats, please tell us in more detail about how you make creamed honey."

OK, i'll tell you how i do it. I am using an approved method developed by
Swedish professional beekeepers called "The Ekobi method". Ekobi is an
organization for Scandinavian beekeepers. If you happen to read swedish,
i'll be happy to mail you the address to the actual report. Here is a
compressed version of the document. The full version is several pages.

First of all, the honey is harvested, extracted and strained without any
heating or pressure involved. Larger operations will use a settling tank and
different straining arrangements and maybe some heating to speed up the
process, but the honey is not heated above 30 degrees Celsius (86 F).

Now, the bulk of the honey stays in a settling tank, drums or whatever you
use. For simplicitys sake, i'll give you an example based on 100 kilograms
of honey:

CREATING THE SEED HONEY
Immediately after extraction and straining, the preparation of the seed
honey starts. The seed honey is a small amount of honey that is allowed to
crystallize under optimal conditions. The seed is 3% of the honey to be
seeded, in this example, 3 kilograms. It is poured into a small bucket and
cooled to 10 degrees Celsius (50 ). I put mine into the refrigerator and
that works fine.

After cooling for a few hours, add 0,3 kilograms of chrystallized (creamed)
honey into the bucket and stir well, using a power drill or similar
arrangement. After that, put the bucket back into the refrigerator. Now take
the bucket out every 12 hours and stir the seed honey for a few minutes.
Within 2-7 days, it will have a nice creamy consistency and that's when it's
ready to be used.

MIXING THE SEED HONEY WITH THE REST
After the seed honey is ready, it is first mixed with another 6 kilograms of
the other (still liquid) honey. The purpose of this is to simplify mixing
the seed with the remaining honey. After this mix is completed, pour the
seed honey (now 9 kilograms) into the container with the remaining honey
while stirring. It is essential that the seed honey is well mixed into the
honey immediately. Stirring must continue until the seed is completely mixed
into the honey. After that is completed, the honey should be left to
chrystallize at a temperature of 5-15 degrees Celsius (41-59 F) without any
further action. Within a few days, chrystallization will be under way and in
2-3 weeks, the honey will be hard and very smooth with no chrystals
detectable to the tongue.

If stored above 15 C (59 F), the honey tends to get bigger chrystals. If
stored below 5 C (41 F), the honey will chrystallize very slowly. 10-12 C
(50-53 F) is the ideal storing temperature at tis stage.

If you like, you can leave this honey for 24 hours and then pour it into
jars. You will get a firm, smooth and beautiful honey that can be stored for
years. Since it is so firm, it has a tendency to develop a frosty pattern on
the inside of the jar that some people don't like. However, it is a proof of
a low water content in the honey and assures a best-before date that is
several years into the future. I tell this to my customers and many of them
ask explicitly for the frosty honey.

BOTTLING OF THE HONEY
The fully chrystallized honey is carefully heated to 30-35 degrees Celsius
(86-95 F) for a day or two and then stirred until it is semi-liquid. It is
left for a few hours for any air bubbles to dissolve and then poured into
jars. The jars are then stored on a flat surface in a temperature of 5-10
degrees Celsius (41-50 F) for 1-2 weeks. After that, the jars are ready to
be sold.

Try this and be proud of this excellent product that can be stored for a
very long time without having to worry about it. One last comment that is
very important: the water content of the honey must be below 18-19% (normal
ripe honey) or the honey will lose it's consistency and ferment. This
usually happens about 6-9 months.

Hope this helps, i'll be happy to answer any questions. I don't claim to be
an expert, but i have the documentation.

/Mats Andersson, Stockholm Sweden

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