Had an interesting accidental discovery this fall. A friend had a beehive that died. She took her honey frames from that hive and put them in the freezer for over a year. Then we offered to process her honey (with the help of a class of students learning about beekeeping). Gave her most of the honey back, but kept the cappings honey, which is pictured above.The honey was a bit of a mess, as the comb was brittle after freezing, and the honey was not warm enough to process easily. It was thick, very dark honey from the start.
The honey did not stay liquid, but instead solidified into an almost jelly-like consistency. Great for spreading on bread. Tastes like honey, but a different consistency. We used a spoon today to move the creamed honey from the bottling bucket to these mason jars.
Creamed honey is a product in which the honey has been carefully manipulated (usually) to produce very fine crystalization. We just lucked into it. Creamed honey is usually almost white, but since this was incredibly dark honey at the start, ours is this pretty golden color.
A fun, spreadible accident in honey processing.
More on creamed honey.
