Hipster Honey

Tinwhistler

Tinwhistler

So, I talking to a co-worker about the tendency for some meadmakers to be positively hipster about the honey they choose. I said "Just buy the freaking Costco honey. You really don't need some raw, organically sourced, hipster honey from the Himalayas that was hand-gathered by sherpas from bees that were hand-fed with eye droppers of nectar."

Today, I get in to work to find this on my desk:
 
Covar

Covar

Tinwhistler said:
So, I talking to a co-worker about the tendency for some meadmakers to be positively hipster about the honey they choose. I said "Just buy the freaking Costco honey. You really don't need some raw, organically sourced, hipster honey from the Himalayas that was hand-gathered by sherpas from bees that were hand-fed with eye droppers of nectar."

Today, I get in to work to find this on my desk:
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Well? How is it? Is it beelicious?
 
Tinwhistler

Tinwhistler

I'm afraid to open it..it's about 75% packed pollen in the bottom of the jar. I think there's only really about 2 oz of honey in here.
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
I love the way it has a "best by" date. Honey does not spoil. Ever.

Archaeologists found some honey in an Egyptian tomb. Still edible.
 
Tinwhistler

Tinwhistler

stienman said:
Are you sure it's not just crystallized honey? Warm it up to 90F until it all clears up.
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It doesn't look like crystallized honey, which I've seen before. It does look like packed pollen--. But I could be wrong--won't know until I open it, I guess.

Ok..upon opening: It smells like honey and bacterial byproducts--slightly vinegary and slightly mildewy. I refuse to taste it.
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
Dave said:
I love the way it has a "best by" date. Honey does not spoil. Ever.

Archaeologists found some honey in an Egyptian tomb. Still edible.
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Honey can go moldy if it's improperly stored. If enough of it crystallizes that the remaining liquid doesn't have a high enough sugar content, then microbial growth won't be inhibited anymore. I can't remember what conditions encourage incomplete crystallization, though.


When I came into this thread I was expecting it to be about agave nectar, coconut syrup, or whatever the next fad sweetener is.
 
fade

fade

Staff member
Honey will spoil if it is exposed to moisture. It tends to readily absorb moisture from the air for the same reason it doesn't spoil. So when that happens, it will spoil because it's the dryness of honey that keeps it free of living organisms.
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

Tinwhistler said:
So, I talking to a co-worker about the tendency for some meadmakers to be positively hipster about the honey they choose. I said "Just buy the freaking Costco honey. You really don't need some raw, organically sourced, hipster honey from the Himalayas that was hand-gathered by sherpas from bees that were hand-fed with eye droppers of nectar."

Today, I get in to work to find this on my desk:
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Why it gotta be white? That honey probably thinks it's somehow privileged and better than all the other honeys.

--Patrick
 
drawn_inward

drawn_inward

Tinwhistler said:
It doesn't look like crystallized honey, which I've seen before. It does look like packed pollen--. But I could be wrong--won't know until I open it, I guess.

Ok..upon opening: It smells like honey and bacterial byproducts--slightly vinegary and slightly mildewy. I refuse to taste it.
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Well...it is supposed to taste ironic, right?
 
Null

Null

I'd figure that the heating and what not involved in mead-making would destroy the "hipster-flavors" of the honey anyway.

Raw honey is fine if you're eating direct or using it as a spread, but for mixing and heating, I'd think you'd want just regular honey.

Does it count as hipster honey if you buy it from a local apiary, even if it's just regular wildflower honey?
 
Tinwhistler

Tinwhistler

Attitude is what makes it hipster.

FWIW, lots of people don't heat/boil their honey any more with mead-making, relying on honey's natural antibiotic properties (and brewer's yeasts natural advantage over the competition) to keep things from going south. I haven't heated/boiled my honey at all over the last couple of years, with nary a problem.
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Actually, wasn't there some controversy a few years ago over honey in grocery stores? Something about FDA definition being very lax, and most cheap store-brand honeys just being jars of amber-colored corn syrup.
 
Null

Null

Ravenpoe said:
Actually, wasn't there some controversy a few years ago over honey in grocery stores? Something about FDA definition being very lax, and most cheap store-brand honeys just being jars of amber-colored corn syrup.
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Yeah, I looked into that. It turns out it was a false panic in 2011. Most of the stuff in the stores IS honey. Part of the normal filtration process removes most of the pollen as well as making it less likely to crystalize.
 
bhamv3

bhamv3

I thought this thread was going to be about Tinwhistler starting a beekeeping operation. Which, to be honest, I can totally picture him doing.
 
Gared

Gared

Tinwhistler said:
Costco honey is True Source certified. This is a bit of a problem with fake honey, but not nearly as bad as some folks think.[DOUBLEPOST=1412219964,1412219851][/DOUBLEPOST]

I totally would, if I had the time for it.
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It's one of the things that drives me nuts about mead making forums. Seems like every 3 days someone new shows up to say "OMG did you know that this study shows that 98% of all honey in the world is really just yellow colored corn syrup from China that's full of lead?!?!?!?!?!?" And a level-headed old-timer has to pull out the actual studies and debunk it all over again.
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

Tinwhistler said:
You know, there's no rule that says two people can't share the same hobby. I'm not actually taking anything away from you. ;)
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It's true, you know. And this way I at least get to experience your hobbies vicariously rather than lamenting my lack of time/money/motive.

--Patrick
 
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