64 



SIXTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



using too much sugar and the other 

 not enough. 



Mr. Dadant — What is the proportion, 

 that is the comparison, between sugar 

 and honey? 



Dr. Baxter — I can't tell you what it 

 is in per cent. 



Mr. Dadant — The sugar is sweeter. 



Dr. Baxter — Yes. 



Approximately how much sweeter? 



Mr. Dadant — Takes a less amount of 

 it per weight to sweeten a given 

 amount of solution. 



Dr. Baxter — Say you had a cup of 

 coffee and desired a certain amount of 

 sweetness? 



Mr. Dadant — I would take a less 

 amount of honey in cofCee than I would 

 of sugar. 



Mr. Pyles — The reason I asked this 

 question, I read somewhere the other 

 day that pure ripe honey was 3 1-3 

 times sweeter than the same bulk of 

 sugar and water. 



President Baxter — It is not; we have! 

 made the test. Two pounds of sugar 

 dissolved in one gallon of water will 

 weigh eighty degrees. It takes 2 1-2 

 pounds of honey fermented to make 

 the same quantity of absolute alcohol. 



Mr. Root — There is another phase of 

 honey as food. I simply speak of this, 

 as my own taste. Honey that has been 

 heated has some of its flavor driven 

 off. I can't say I am particularly fond 

 of honey upon hot breakfast food. The 

 minute you begin to heat honey it 

 takes away some of its flavor. "What 

 I do like is honey on cold breakfast 

 food. You take liquid honey and pour 

 it on thick, and then you have all the 

 honey there is in the honey and the 

 breakfast food. We have breakfast 

 foods served cold; that is the way we 

 prefer it. I like hot breakfast food, 

 but I don't like hot honey on it. I will 

 say, in this connection, I don't believe 

 there is any bottled honey that is put 

 up in the ordinary way (that is a con- 

 fession), that has been heated to 160 

 degrees Fahr. to prevent its granula- 

 tion, that has got the flavor that the 

 same honey has before it was heated. 

 Just a few days ago I had some very 

 fine raspberry honey, and I said to Mrs. 

 Root: "When that honey begins to 

 granulate, you let me know and I will 

 stop its granulation, and I won't change 

 the flavor of it." She said, "All right." 

 "Now, don't you send it over to the 



Honey Bottling Department, because I 

 want to try an experiment." 



Well, when it began to granulate, I 

 turned on the faucet in the hot water 

 side of the wash tubs and took my 

 60 pound can after it had granulated 

 and raised the temperature to about 

 190 degrees. The reason is, as soon as 

 a cold tank of honey was put in there 

 the temperature of the water would 

 drop. Leave it in 40 minutes; and 

 leave it in another forty minutes; take 

 it out; when I took it out and put it 

 on the table and let it cool. When 

 this had cooled, I called Mrs. Root and 

 said, "What do you think of this 

 honey?" She replied, "That is pretty 

 good. Is that the raspberry? What did 

 you do with it?" 



. I treated it as carefully as I knew 

 how, and, while I don't suppose the 

 average man who buys bottled honey 

 knows the difference, those who are 

 watching the thing know there is a 

 slight difference in flavor. The chemist 

 knows, and the practical bee man 

 knows. 



The science of bottling honey has 

 not come to the place where it will later. 

 I propose to do some experimental 

 work. 



Some few years ago I had our man 

 in the bottling department bring in 

 some honeys. They can take white 

 clover and heat it, and I venture to 

 say there is not a man in the room 

 who can tell before it is heated and 

 afterwards. Alfalfa stands it pretty 

 well, changes a little; clover will stand 

 heat better than any honey I know of. 

 There are some other flavors that are 

 easily effected. 



According to my experience and ob- 

 servation, heating honey at 130 degrees, 

 and keeping it hot flve hours, will keep 

 it in liquid condition longer than honey 

 heated at 160 degrees and cooled. 



The flavor of long heated honey is 

 not as good as that quickly heated. 



I feel as though we have only begun 

 to scratch the ground. 



Honey in the comb has a flavor; wax 

 has a flavor, and, if I want real fine 

 honey to take to my guest, I give them 

 comb honey. 



I say, "This is raspberry," or that 

 or the other, and give them that flavor. 



Mr. Dadant will tell you that his 

 visitors, when they go into the wajc 

 room — persons that are not bee-keep- 

 ers — will say, "How nice it smells in 

 here." I - 



