f>32 



G L E A N I N Cx S IN B B K CULTURE 



()(T()15ER, 1922 



BOTTLING AND SELLING HONEY 



Some Trich of the Trade Not 

 Generally Kno-wn to the 'beekeep- 

 ing 'T^ublic 



By E. R. Root 



BEFORE the 

 Great War, 

 ix u (1 to a 

 much greater ex- 

 tent during its 

 continua nee, 

 American honey 

 was going to Eu- 

 rope by the ship- 

 load. The high 

 price secured during the war times enor- 

 mously stimulated the production of honey; 

 and even after the armistice was signed, 

 and sugar had begun to take a tumble, and 

 along with it honey; that enormous produc- 

 tion of honey kept on just the same, not- 

 withstanding that vast quantities which had 

 been going to Europe stopped suddenlj^. It 

 was evident that something had to be done 

 to stimulate the consumption of honey in 

 the United States, or else the prices of it 

 would sink to a level never before reached. 

 Our Gleanings staff called a council, and 

 tlie result was tliat, notwithstanding we 

 \vere bottling and selling honey, we came 

 to the conclusion that the beekeeper him- 

 self, in view of the situation of no honey 

 going to Europe and the large markets 

 glutted, would have to sell more of his hon- 

 ey in his own locality. As is well known, 

 we then began to publish a series of articles 

 advocating local selling as well as roadside 

 selling. The result of that campaign has 

 been to convince many l)eekeepers that they 

 could not only produce but dispose of their 

 product almost at their own doors. 



It is not my purpose at this time to take 

 up the question of roadside selling, but to 

 explain some tricks in packing honey, that 

 have never before been given to the public. 

 But before I do this — that is, tell how to 

 fill the packages, whether tin or glass — I 

 ought to say that selling honey in tin pails 

 of 5 and 10 pound size has been enormous 

 ly stimulated within the last two years. 

 Immense quantities of extracted honey have 

 been sold in tin and in jars right in the lo- 

 cality where it has been produced without 

 its having ever once entered a freight or 

 express car. Obviously it is better to en- 

 courage selling in 5 and 10 pound pails 

 rather than in half-pound or one or two 

 pound bottles. It is almost as easy to sell 

 twice the quantities in tin as it is in glass. 

 Riglit here you may say, "Why sell in glass 

 at all?'' In the great majority of cases 

 honey in bottles is the forerunner of honey 

 ill the tin pail. It is necessary, therefore, 

 for the local seller to know how to put up 

 liis honey in glass in order to develop a 

 taste and demand for extracted honey in 

 tin later on. In the large industrial cen- 

 ters, and especially among the working peo- 

 ]ile, it is almost impossible to sell a larger 

 than a half-pound tumbler or a one-pound 

 bottle of honey. Many buy only a little of 

 tliis and a little of that; and you may say 

 what you please about the advantage of 

 selling in tin and the advantage of selling a 



large package in 

 stead of a small 

 one, people of 

 the poorer class 

 can not and will 

 not buy honey at 

 all unless it is in 

 a package cost- 

 ing not over 15 

 or 25 cents. 

 Wliile the customer will buy granulated hon- 

 ey in a tin pail he will not buy what looks 

 like lard in a glass bottle. Obviously the 

 combination will not sell. 



Now, then, we are ready to consider put- 

 ting honey in the bottles so it will remain 

 liquid for two years and without any frotli 

 ())• bubbles on top. 



Heating Honey for Bottling. 



In heating honey there is always danger 

 of injuring its delicate flavor. Honey for 

 bottling purposes should be light-colored and 

 always good for table use. Dark or poorly 

 flavored honey should be put up in tins or 

 sold to the baker. It can not be emphasized 

 too strongly that the beautiful light honeys 

 for bottling can be very easily injured (1) 

 by heating too long; (2) by raising the tem- 

 perature too high; (3) by heating it too 

 many times. Usually it is necessary to 

 liquefy in 60-pound square tin cans all honey 

 suitable for bottling. The usual plan is to 

 stand the tin can right side up in a boiler of 

 liot water. But the trouble with this plan 

 is that it holds tlie portion that has been 

 reduced to a liquid in a heated condition, 

 Avhile tlie otlier portion and the core are 

 still unmelted. A far better plan is to place 

 the square cans in a small hot room having 

 a temperature of 125 to 150 degrees, and to 

 liave these cans, while in the hot room, placed 

 upside down with the caps off so that the 

 honey may drain away as fast as it melts, 

 thus being carried away from the heat. It is 

 then ready to be placed in a water-jacketed 

 vessel and heated further until the proper 

 temperature for bottling is reached. At no 

 time should the honey itself be subjected to 

 a temperature higher than 160 degrees. It 

 should then be run into bottles and sealed 

 while hot. 



Some beekeepers have told me that after 

 they poured the honey into bottles the bub- 

 bles or froth would form on top, and that 

 they had allowed the jars to stand unsealed 

 until this froth had disappeared, after which 

 they put on the caps. This is all wrong. If 

 the honey is allowed to cool and is then 

 sealed it may granulate in six months, while 

 if sealed at once it will remain liquid for 

 two years, provided in the mean time it is 

 not subjected to extremes of temperature 

 or kept in a refrigerator or in n cold storage 

 room. 



How to Fill a Bottle Without Scum on Top 

 of the Honey. 



There is a little trick about filling a bot- 

 tle with honev so there will be no froth or 



