Questions about fermented honey.

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Questions about fermented honey.
« on: May 04, 2009, 06:16:19 PM » by garlic gal

I recently discovered one of my honey buckets is fermented!! I have been told it happens if the honey is spun before it is capped by the honeybees. What can it be used for? Can it be used in baking? What about making herbal ticnture and syrups? Anyone have any ideas? Thank you!

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Re: Questions about fermented honey.
« Reply #1 on: May 04, 2009, 07:47:46 PM » by yasmine

so.... do you mean crystallized? or really fermented? NEVER in my life have I ever heard of this...We have been buying honey from a small farm for 32 years and it is RAW HONEY...a very small family farm! ha ha,,,I would be curious about this! Huh

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Re: Questions about fermented honey.
« Reply #2 on: May 04, 2009, 08:58:19 PM » by SarahK

Yep - "honey" will do that if it's not really honey. The bees will cap the nectar from the flowers once they have dehydrated it enough. If it's not capped when extracted, it may ferment.

We've actually had this happen several times. It can be a real mess cuz the contents of your jar/bucket will expand as carbon dioxide is formed. I usually find out when I smell something sweet in the storage area and then there is a sticky mess all over where it's blooped out.

After the messy clean-up, I personally will use it as regular honey. I bake, cook, spread and preserve with it as usual. I would even use in herbal mixtures if I didn't have regular honey around.

BUT HERE IS THE DISCLAIMER/caution notes:

When it is not concentrated to the real honey level, it is a growing grounds for microbes - hence the fermenting. It actually is the same thing that happens when making honey mead and other alcohol beverages. Sweetened liquid has a starter added to it and away it grows.

And it can grow all kinds of things. I don't know what the limits are but it would make sense to me that some of the things that could grow in there are NOT things you would want to eat under normal circumstance. I would name these if I could but I honestly don't know which to include or exclude from the list of suspects.

If you have a concern about what might be living in your product, cook with it. The heating process (baked, boiled, etc) will kill all the critters.

Sarah K

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Re: Questions about fermented honey.
« Reply #3 on: May 04, 2009, 09:17:36 PM » by hi_itsgwen

Quote from: SarahK on May 04, 2009, 08:58:19 PM

If you have a concern about what might be living in your product, cook with it. The heating process (baked, boiled, etc) will kill all the critters.

If you want to make tinctures or herbal preparations with it, you can always crank up the heat on the honey to kill any boogers, and then let it cool down to a nice warm extraction temp. Another idea is that it would be perfect for making cough drops...it takes a high heat to get it to hard crack stage.

~Gwen

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Re: Questions about fermented honey.
« Reply #4 on: May 05, 2009, 08:04:03 AM » by mdessy