Search forums

Forums

Export thread

Hipster Honey

Oct 1, 2014#1

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:

Oct 1, 2014#2

drawn_inward

That would go well with hipster toast. There's hipster toast joints in San Francisco apparently too.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-mill-san-francisco

Oct 1, 2014#3

Frank

drawn_inward said:
That would go well with hipster toast. There's hipster toast joints in San Francisco apparently too.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-mill-san-francisco

Yeah, I've heard some podcasts based in San Francisco mock that place.

Oct 1, 2014#4

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:

Well? How is it? Is it beelicious?

Oct 1, 2014#5

BananaHands

As resident hipster, I demand to know how the honey tasted.

Even if it isn't vegan.

Oct 1, 2014#6

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.

Oct 1, 2014#7

Dave

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.

Oct 1, 2014#8

Tinwhistler

stienman said:
Are you sure it's not just crystallized honey? Warm it up to 90F until it all clears up.

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.

Oct 1, 2014#9

Jay

Ya I was about to post that... honey doesn't fucking spoil.

Oct 1, 2014#10

drawn_inward

"Best by" just means its peak tastiness is by that date. The tastiness will decline after that time not that it will spoil.

Oct 1, 2014#11

figmentPez

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.

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.

Oct 1, 2014#12

fade

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.

Oct 1, 2014#13

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:

Why it gotta be white? That honey probably thinks it's somehow privileged and better than all the other honeys.

--Patrick

Oct 1, 2014#14

Tinwhistler

PatrThom said:
Why it gotta be white? That honey probably thinks it's somehow privileged and better than all the other honeys.

--Patrick

I got a similar comment on Imgur.

Oct 1, 2014#15

PatrThom

Wasn't me, I don't have an imgur acct.

--Patrick

Oct 1, 2014#16

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.

Well...it is supposed to taste ironic, right?

Oct 1, 2014#17

Tinwhistler

I was kind of hoping it'd be glorious. Like most things hipsters rave about, I only tasted disappointment.

Oct 1, 2014#18

Cheesy1

*start music first*

That's because your tastebuds are longing to be satisfied by some deep, thick, sticky black . . .

. . . honey.

Oct 1, 2014#19

Tinwhistler

stienman said:
Psh. That's too mainstream now. Real hipsters only taste aporia now.

I had too much enuii to go that far with it. Hipster honey is too mainstream now.

Oct 1, 2014#20

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?

Oct 1, 2014#21

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.

Oct 1, 2014#22

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.

Oct 1, 2014#23

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.

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.

Oct 1, 2014#24

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.

Oct 1, 2014#25

Tinwhistler

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

bhamv3 said:
I thought this thread was going to be about Tinwhistler starting a beekeeping operation. Which, to be honest, I can totally picture him doing.

I totally would, if I had the time for it.

Oct 2, 2014#26

PatrThom

Tinwhistler said:
I totally would, if I had the time for it.

No. You're already the @Docseverin of hobbies. Leave some for us.

--Patrick

Oct 2, 2014#27

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.

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.

Oct 2, 2014#28

Tinwhistler

PatrThom said:
No. You're already the @Docseverin of hobbies. Leave some for us.

--Patrick

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.

Oct 2, 2014#29

jwhouk

@Docseverin is the @Docseverin of LIFE.

Chuck Norris wishes he was @Docseverin.

Oct 2, 2014#30

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.

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

Oct 2, 2014#31

Tinwhistler

jwhouk said:
@Docseverin is the @Docseverin of LIFE.

Chuck Norris wishes he was @Docseverin.

When Chuck Norris does pushups, he's not pushing himself up. he's pushing the world down. But then @Docseverin pushes back.

Forums