April 



^^Merican l^ee Journai] 



The Blending of Honeys 



BY OREL L. lIERSHlSr.R. 



Referring to the remarks of Mr. 

 Arthur C. Miller (page ■!!'), wherein he 

 quotes approvingly one who makes a 

 practise of blending dark honey with 

 his fancy and very white clover and 

 basswood, the prime object in blending 

 seems to be to work off dark and ill- 

 flavored honeys, that command a low 

 price, at the price of the higher grades. 

 At any rate, bringing down the color 

 of light honey by blending with it 

 the darker grades, necessitates the 

 use of the lower grade, as dark and 

 amber honeys are never quoted as high 

 in our markets as the white, of heavy 

 body and good flavor, such as our bass- 

 wood and clover. 



It is doubted if any benefit will ac- 

 crue to bee-keepers generally by advo- 

 cating blending to alter color or body. 

 In the hands of experts whose interests 

 are identical with beekeepers as a 

 class, such as Mr. Miller, for instance, 

 the reputation of our high-grade honeys 

 might not be expected to suffer by 

 blending honeys of approximately the 

 same value as to color and body, for 

 the purpose of modifying flavor only, 

 such as basswood with clover or 

 alfalfa, etc., but the result of blending, 

 to an appreciable extent, the of?- 

 flavored, dark and thin-bodied honey 

 with the white, heavy and delicious 

 flavored is a medium-grade honey. 

 That is the case with all markets with 

 which I am acquainted. If the color, 

 body or flavor is "oft," we can not ex- 

 pect top prices. White, well-ripened 

 honey commands the higher price be- 

 cause it has the flavor usually pre- 

 ferred by most consumers. 



-As to body, the highest perfection 

 seems to be reached by allowing the 

 bees to ripen it by leaving it on the 

 hives long enough for that purpose. 

 Excessively heavy honey is so rare 

 that it seems tome a waste of time to 

 bother tinkering it to get it thinner. If 

 our honey should chance to be un- 

 usually heavy-bodied, let us congratu- 

 late ourselves on such occasions on 

 having secured a crop of honey of past 

 fancy grade, and try to get a price for 

 it accordingly, and not put ouselves 

 upon the apologetic by bringing down 



the color and body, and incidentally 

 the grade and value. 



Mr. Miller quote: the rules applica- 

 ble to "telling tales out of school," but 

 as one story calls for another, here 

 goes. 



Wh.\t the Record Shows. 



In one of the several very excellent 

 addresses Mr. Miller gave at the On- 

 tario Bee-Keepers' convention in To- 

 ronto in November, 11)08, those para- 

 graphs on the subject — " Side Lights 

 on Marketing"— relating to color, fla- 

 vor and body, were presented as fol- 

 lows: 



With the extracted honey one lias more to 

 consider. Color seems to be of Hrst impor- 

 tance. In Toronto, white honey sells read- 

 ily, while in Rhodelsland theeoldencolorcd 

 honey is the best shade for the market. 

 When color is of importance, by blending 

 a light and a dark honey the correct color 

 can be obtained. 



Flavor also must be considered, and the 

 blending is again of great value in correct- 

 ing whatever is undesirable in the honeys 

 that may pass through the hands of the 

 larger producer's in a season's operations. 



A third point is body. An excessively 

 heavy-bodied honey is not as desirable in 

 the Kastern markets as the honey which 

 flows reasonably easy. People there want 

 honey that will pour out as a syrup. By 

 using very thin honeys a better blend is 

 made than by keeping the honey thick. 



These points of the address were dis- 

 cussed as follows : 



Mr. Sibbald — As to the quality of honey, as 

 Mr. Miller says, we can't always control the 

 source of our bees gathering honey, and the 

 darker colors of honey are not worth as 

 much here as the light honey. The people 

 here want a white honey, especially in To- 

 ronto. In Montreal. I believe, they can use 

 a darker honey, and that is a better market 

 for it than Toronto. I believe the dark 

 honey is on the increase, and I have heard 

 some of our friends here do not think very 

 much of buckwheat honey, but when we be- 

 gin to work with it. and e.xtract it and taste 

 it. and get used to the flavor of it. we don't 

 think it so bad. after all. It seems to me 

 that there is a little field for bee-keepers to 

 educate the people to like dark honey. 



Mr. Hershiser— I don't think you can blend 

 thereat rank honey and get anything that 

 will improve the quality. 



Mr. Dickenson— 1 quite agree with Mr. 

 Miller in regard to a beekeeper building up 

 a reputation of his own. let it be whatever 

 character of label he may adopt. I think it 

 does not matter what the other fellow does, 

 if you put up good goods that will recom- 

 mend themselves; but you want to be sure 

 you are right every time. I don't know that 

 we could adopt those methods of blending 

 honey here in Toronto, that Mr. Miller men- 

 tions. The flavor of basswood honey is dif- 

 ferent from clover honey. Sometimes those 

 honeys are blended by the bees, and we 

 can not help ourselves unless we are pretty 



sharp to take olT the capped honey in the 

 clover season. I think perhaps each locality 

 or country has to have its own system be- 

 fore blending could be recommended. 



Mr. Holtermann— There was one point in 

 Mr. Miller's address as to the thickness of 

 honey. As Mr. Dickenson has said, one 

 country perhaiJS can not lay down a rule for 

 another, as in the matter t>f blending, but in 

 this country we have tried to educate our- 

 selves as much as possible in the direction 

 of having our honey as thick as possible, 

 and what we are trying to get out of is sell- 

 ing thin honey. We find here our custo- 

 mers want a well-ripened article, and the 

 better ripened we can have it, as long as it 

 is not at the sacrifice of flavor, and the 

 thicker we can get it the better our custo- 

 mers like it. 



Mr. McEvoy — Mr. Miller speaks of blend- 

 ing honey, on the other side. On this side I 

 would rather see each kind kept separate 

 and sold according to its value. The mixing 

 of honey does not go so well in this country. 



Mr, Timbers— Some gentleman has said 

 that the tendency is drifting to darker 

 honey. What I have had in the last three 

 •years has been a little darker shade than 

 what I have been used to. and I find the cry 

 is, " Why don't you bring some of that light 

 honey you used to bring years ago ?" Again. 

 Mr. Miller said he did not think the average 

 housekeeper knew the difference: it was 

 sweet, and that was all. and they wanted 

 something thin to pour out. I find that is not 

 the case in Toronto. 1 hey want something 

 good and thick, and if it is not thick they 

 will very soon call your attention to it. If 

 you take a dozen glasses of honey. 6 of which 

 are nice and bright, and 6 of which are dark. 

 Idon'fcareif the dark is a little the best 

 flavor and is a little heavier, if you set them 

 on the counter side by side. I am satisfied, 

 in the Toronto market, that the 6 light 

 glasses will go first, every time. That has 

 been and is my experience today. 



Mr. Chrysler — I think we can safely blend 

 clover and basswood honey together in this 

 country, but as to other flavors. I think we 

 would be doingsomething very much against 

 our own interest to blend them. Mr. Nfiller 

 has said something about the consumer re- 

 garding honey as honey, and the uniformity 

 of it is what we want to get at. We might 

 find some honey in some locality of a supe- 

 rior grade. Probably the product of a 

 whole locality would not average 50.000 

 pounds If it is good white honey, a good 

 flavor, and a little better than the average. I 

 don't think it would be wise to blend that 

 with our regular cloverand basswood honey, 

 and make a uniform blend throughout. In 

 regard to marketing in the Northwest. I 

 think they are willing to pay a good price for 

 a pood article. They want the best article 

 there, and they have the money to pay for it. 



Mr, Couse— With reference to marketing I 

 really believe that Mr. Miller has found the 

 conditions here are different from what they 

 are at his home, and I believe that condi- 

 tions differ greatly in different districts. 

 Mr. Chrysler has just made reference to the 

 Northwest. I believe if Mr. Chrysler were 

 to go West and produce honey such as they 

 have, he might find that the honey they have 

 produced in the West is what they want as 

 badly as they do ours. I believe in the 

 vicinity of Dauphin there is a great amount 

 of honey produced. I know a grocer there 

 who has bought all the honey he requires 



No. >— Comh-Car r wiru ICxtrai ting-Sipers 



.No. n— Swarm Setti-eii ox .VIum.ein-Heads. 



