1904 



GLEANINGS IN Bi:i-: CULlURt 



125 



of some, to the extent of affectinjif his 

 purse. 



The encourapfement otYered by its ready 

 sale, and the praise it received, has led nie 

 to decide to ofier all mj' candied honey in 

 this form the coming- season ; and that tells, 

 without saying-, my success with paper 

 hone3' packages. 



Spring-, 111. 



HOW TO MAKE HONEY CANDY QUICKLY. 



BY S. T. PEITIT. 



Mr. Root: — If I am not mistaken, a large 

 majorit}' of bee-keepers will rejoice that 

 you are taking- an intellig^ent interest in the 

 candying- of honey, indicating- in a marked 

 deg-ree your watchfulness over the best in- 

 terests of our chosen and sweet profession. 

 Having- been, since I started in the bee 

 business, an advocate of selling- honey in 

 the candied form, I have studied not only 

 how to make it candj' quickly, but to do 

 that other thing- of much more importance — 

 viz., to have it candy with a very line 

 smooth grain. Such honey is always more 

 pleasing in the mouth — better to eat — and 

 hence better to sell than the coarse-grained 

 article; and, more, the latter is more in- 

 clined to leak or drain than the former. 



First of all, I will say that, in order to 

 have the best quality of candied honey, it 

 is absolutely necessary that it be left with 

 the bees until all or nearly all is capped ; 

 and in the second place, the extracting 

 must be done in dry weather or on a drying 

 day. A pinch of salt on a board in the 

 honej'- house, in the absence of an hygrome- 

 ter, will measure the moisture of the atmos- 

 phere with sufficient accuracy for the pur- 

 pose. At any time, if the salt is wet, just 

 wait until it becomes dry. Honey takes in 

 water as readily as salt, and more so. 



The honey in the supers contains more 

 water in damp weather than in dry; hence 

 the necessity of handling honey in drying 

 weather. 



Extracted honey should be covered to ex- 

 clude the air as much as possible. But, 

 more to the question, agitation, jarring, or 

 rocking the honey slowly, hastens the can- 

 dying process. 



A very effective method is, at the last 

 of the season's extracting, to put the 

 extracting-combs away in a dry place, 

 uncleaned, until the honey is coming in 

 pretty freely the next season. The fact is 

 simply this. If this old granulated honey 

 be left in the combs to mingle with the new 

 it will unmistakably hurryup granulation. 

 But if the supers be put on too early the 

 bees may clean it all out. Another way is 

 to mix seme old candied honey with the 

 new, and stir it once or twice or cftener 

 each day. But right here I wish to enter a 

 protest and caution against the two last 

 methods, inasmuch as honey so treated is 

 pretty sure to be coarse and rough in the 

 grain, and, besides that, frequent stirring, 

 or stirring at all, allows more or less of the 



aroma and flavor to escape. Anotherthing, 

 stirring incorporates air with the honey; 

 and if it be kept any considerable length 

 of time, the incorporated air will impair 

 the quality. Of all methods known to me, 

 the following is my choice: 



Any movement in honey, however small, 

 encourages, assists, and hastens candying ; 

 and the smaller the movements and the 

 slower the motion, the better will be the re- 

 sults. The honey will be finer in the grain 

 and smoother in the mouth, and, if it has 

 been well ripened by the bees, and proper- 

 ly handled, it will not leak or drain in the 

 least. 



When the time comes for bagging the 

 honey, or putting it into small containers, 

 on a warm day, the honey should be thor- 

 oughly stirred from top to bottom. The 

 specific gravity of dextrose is greater than 

 that of levulose. and hence the former grad- 

 ually finds its way more or less toward the 

 bottom of ihe tank. The stirring should be 

 done on a warm day for two reasons. First, 

 when the honey is warm the mixing can be 

 more thoroughly done; and, second, what 

 ever air through the stirring may be mixed 

 with the honey can rise to the surface and 

 be skimmed off. 



Now we are ready to bag, bottle, or tin 

 our honey. It should be done when some- 

 what warm, as the honey moves quickly in 

 that condition, and takes in and holds less 

 air than when cold and stiflF. 



Now that we have our honey or a portion 

 of it in the small containers ready for the 

 market except the candying, make it as 

 nearly air tight as possible. Place it in 

 some thin-walled building — a building that 

 will cool off quickly, and take on about the 

 same temperature as outdoor air. On very 

 warm days the place must be aired to keep 

 the temperature from rising too high, as 

 he^t retards granulation. 



Well, Brother Root, I have indicated our 

 part, and Nature will do the rest as follows : 



The daily, alternate contraction and ex- 

 pansion of the honey, caused by the cool 

 nights and the warmth of each succeeding 

 daj' as it passes, will furnish a 1 the neces- 

 sary movements in the honeyfor best results 

 in the finished article. The daily varia- 

 tions of temperature are strong factors in 

 candying honey. They move the honey in 

 itself. 



This is an important matter, and I wish 

 to say that, if we get in too much haste, 

 and put upon the markets candied honey 

 that is not of good qualit}', or so handled 

 that the good qualities will perish, it will 

 be a grave mistake. It is much more easy 

 to hold a good position than to regain it 

 once lost. 



With our present experience, my impres- 

 sion is that we had not better undertake to 

 carry much honey in bags very far into the 

 heat of summer. Mr. A. I. Root makes a 

 good suggestion when he advises keeping 

 the hcney airtight. 



RFCAPITUL.^TION. 



To produce perfect candied honey, smooth 



