GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



CONVERSATIONS with DOOLITTLE 



At Borodino, New York. 



LIQUEFYING GRANULATED HONEY. 



" The honey I extracted last 

 summer is all candied hard ; and 

 while some of my customers seem 

 to like it that way, the majority 

 of them prefer it in the liquid 

 form. Please tell me the required 

 heat, and how to proceed." 



The recipe which was given me some 

 thirty years ago, at about the time extract- 

 ed honey came before the public, was this : 

 " Set the vessel containing candied honey 

 on the back joart of the stove where it is a 

 little warmer than you can comfortably 

 hold the hand, allowing it to remain there 

 till the honey is all liquefied." With only 

 a small quantity, this answers very well 

 unless you forget all about the lioney, build 

 a big fire, and allow it to stay there till it 

 reaches the boiling-point or nearly so. 

 AVhere this is done, the honey not only 

 changes color but the flavor is also very 

 much impaired, especially for one who likes 

 the delicate flavor contained in nice clover 

 or basswood honey. Too much heat is al- 

 ways injurious, both as to color and flavor. 

 We may consider 212° F. as the boiling- 

 jioint of Waaler; but honey brought to that 

 degree of heat would be ruined ; and there- 

 fore it is not safe to set granulated honey 

 on the stove-top or its oven if the honey is 

 to be tnarketed, since such heat is an un- 

 known quantity. Moreover, the bottom of 

 the honey in any receptacle where liquefied 

 by dry heat may go above 212 degrees while 

 the top is still in the candied form. For 

 this reason I Avould not advise the novice to 

 try the dry-heat plan save for a small 

 amount used at home. 



What is called here the " wet plan " is 

 generally preferable for all purposes. This 

 plan generally calls for the " wash-boiler," 

 tho any open di.sh of suitable size is good. 

 Some put i^ieces of brick or iron in on the 

 bottom of the boiler to set the vessels con- 

 taining the candied honev on; but those 

 claiming to know say that wooden strips 

 crowded in so they will not float are pref- 

 erable, as such Avill not convey the heat to 

 any part of the honey more rapidly than 

 will the water in the heating-up process. 



Having the strips fitted in, the vessel of 

 honey is to be set on these, and cold water 

 jioured in by means of a long-spouted fun- 

 nel till the water comes up around the 

 vessels as far as the honey is inside. It is 

 important that the heating be gradual, for 

 the reason that the process of melting can- 



died honey nnist l)e rather slow, as it is a 

 poor conductor of heat. If the heating is 

 rapid, that at the sides of the i?ontaining 

 vessel would be melted and might be in- 

 jured before that at the center was little 

 more than warmed. This would be especial- 

 ly true if the vessel were of considerable 

 size. If thru rapid heating the tempera- 

 ture at the sides of such a vessel goes above 

 the highest point of safety, and is main- 

 tained at that point until the honey is all 

 reduced, damage is likely to occur, altho the 

 temperature at the center of the mass of 

 honey may have hardly ajiproximated the 

 danger-point. I generally take from three 

 to three and a half hours in bringing the 

 honey to a temperature of 135 degrees, and 

 rarely allow it to get above 150. An oil- 

 stove is preferable to either wood or coal in 

 that the flame can be rasied or lowered at 

 wall, and thus a temperature of from 140 

 to 145 be kept as long as it is desired to 

 have every i^art of the honey reach the same 

 temperature. Basswood and clover honey 

 readily liquefy, and become as clear as 

 when first extracted, at a temperature of 

 145; but I am told that other honeys, like 

 alfalfa, seem to need a higher temperature 

 to bring them back to their original clear 

 and limpid condition, at least a tempera- 

 ture of 160 being needed. 



I find that an injury begins wdth clovei' 

 and basswood honeys if they are allowed to 

 stay any length of time much above 165; 

 but as these honeys liquefy readily at a 

 temperature of 135 to 145 the difference 

 between the melting-point and the danger- 

 point is so wide that there is no necessity 

 for running any risk 



Some claim that if honey is put in glass 

 cans and sealed up while hot it will not 

 granulate again, and by this claim many a 

 lot of honey has been injured, both in flavor 

 and color, in that the term " hot " conveys 

 to the average mind near or quite the boil- 

 ing-point. True, if honey is brought to or 

 above 212 degrees it will rarely granulate 

 again ; but the price of such honey will 

 depreciate from one-fourth to no sale at all 

 with most consumers of extracted honey, to 

 say nothing of the injury which comes to 

 the market by putting such before the peo- 

 ple. I find that any honey which is liable 

 to granulate will granulate again if only 

 lieated so as to liquefy it; but it does not 

 graiuilate quite as quickly after heating as 

 it did at first nor as quickly after each 

 heating as it did after the one before. 



