# I made creamed honey!



## Brad Bee (Apr 15, 2013)

Completely by accident and don't have any idea how. I extracted 6 1/2 supers a couple weeks ago. I put all my cappings into a doubled (one inside the other) 5 gal nylon paint strainer mesh bag. I rolled the bag down and squeezed out as much honey as I could without ripping the bags. I then suspended the bag in the top of a 5 gal bucket and have been letting it drain. I covered the bucket with a plastic bag to keep dust, etc from finding it's way into the bag. I put the bucket in our laundry room, inside the house so ants, etc wouldn't get into it. I checked it a week ago and had about a gallon of honey in the bucket. I was going to bottle it this morning and when I got into the bucket I noticed the honey had crystalized since last week. I thought that was odd, and I dipped a tablespoon out and it was a wonderful, caramel textured, creamy, smooth consistency. I've considered making creamed honey before and had often wondered what to use as a starter. Looks like I now have a gallon of very good "starter" to use. 

Since I still have not actually, intentionally made any creamed honey, how much of this starter would I need to put into regular honey to make it? Also, how well does it need to be mixed in? I had read that cooler temps were better for making it. Our house stays around 70 degrees. This turned out great but if I want to replicate it, does it need to be cooler?


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

I use a half pound in eight and thoroughly mix inwifesbig mixer. Then I mop the floor five times and she still finds sticky somewhere.


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## beefarmer (May 2, 2010)

I use a pound in 10 or 11 pounds, mix in some lorann oil flavorings, stir with drill with cream honey making device, [looks like a paint stirrer for a drill you could get at harbor freight, put in in 8 oz jars, and put in a walk in cooler till sets up


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## beesohappy (Jun 3, 2009)

I agree with beefarmer and used a pound of starter for ten pounds of honey. Because I didn't wanna take any chances I followed the directions in this video. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiqrU71aJGc

I also went out and bought a wine cooler that held the temp in the upper 50's as the honey set up. It turned out great. My next batch is going to be made using freeze dried fruit powder.


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## Hiwire (Oct 19, 2014)

On the same topic, I also have some questions...I added 1 lb of creamed honey to 10 lbs of my own honey that I had warmed to 110 to remove crystals then strained hoping to remove the rest, then cooled to room temp. Its been about 4 days. It does seem to be setting up fairly well but Id love to see it set up a little more. That now gives me 11 lbs of starter. I have a large 2 day event coming up in just over 3 weeks. My plan is to have this available there. I am going to use an additional 60 lbs of crystal free honey to make my big batch. My questions...
1)Will this set up a little quicker if I use all 11 lbs as seed instead of cutting it back to 1/10 and bottling half of the current seed?
2) Should I mix this now to give it the full 3 weeks to set up? will it crystalize the same even if the seed had not completed setting up?
3) Will it set up quicker in bottles or in the bucket or does it matter?
MY thoughts are to put it in 1 lb glass jars, vertical instead of wide, to accommodate my current 1 lb label. Do you prefer the plastic tubs or the see through glass? does it set up better in 1 or the other? I would think that in glass it is more appealing but the plastic is easier to access. My label would probably fit ok on the lid of the plastic. 
I know some of these questions are just personal preference but this is a new venture so I am open to suggestions and experience.
Thank you!
Ray


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I never heat my honey. Just add the starter and keep it around 57 F (14 C) and it will quickly crystallize. If you heat it all those wonderful aromatics get lost. Depending on the source of the honey, you often don't even need the starter, just keep it 57 F and it will quickly crystallize. The faster it crystallizes, usually the smoother it is. If it ends up too coarse I run it through a flour grinder to make it fine again. But it is almost always nice and fine if I keep it cool while it crystallizes.


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## Hiwire (Oct 19, 2014)

Michael I agree with not heating honey. Many of the videos I have perused have suggested raising the temp to 150. The only time my tank has ever reached that temp is when I was melting wax. I feel like on a warm summer day if it reaches 100 outside, it could probably reach 110 inside the hive. I also find that at 110 I don't see any difference in the future crystallization of the honey I bottle. It isn't pasteurized. It still crystalizes again fairly quickly. Especially when I have honey stored in buckets for months and at the consistency of frozen butter, I haven't found a way I can get it in to a liquid form to bottle without warming it. I also find that when bottled directly from the extractor I don't have the ability to fill the size bottle I need... If I suddenly run out of 2 lb bottles in January, how can I replenish my stock of 2 lb bottles without warming it? Around here people want liquid honey, not ONLY crystalized honey so it wont sell if I bottle it all now and let it crystalize naturally. Not arguing your point but explaining why I have to warm it to 110. I guess this takes me out of the "purist" category, I realize I lose points but it works for me with little or no damage to the product. Other than for the creamed honey I am making there is still never any straining or filtering so can I have at least a couple of my points back that I lose for warming it?

Ray


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## aunt betty (May 4, 2015)

Accidentally made some too.
The wife has a habit of refrigerating everything no matter how much I protest. 
One day we found a jar of ??? in the fridge. 
Tasted it and mmm it's honey. 
Used it for seed. It only takes a spoonful to a pint of honey. Stir it up, put it in the fridge, and it sets up really quick. 
Creamed or 'spun' honey is sort of hard to find around here.


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## laketrout (Mar 5, 2013)

Very interesting always wondered how it was made , does creamed honey stay nice and smooth for a long time or does it eventually turn into normal course crystallized honey and is it worth a little more at the the markets if I'm selling a pound of regular honey for 6.00 what would a pound of creamed honey be worth .


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## missybee (Sep 6, 2014)

We make the creamed using around a pound in liquid honey, I just hand stir in a big stainless bowl, I have read you don't want to whip it, use a beater etc or heat it.

We put it in a wine cooler or in the basement, usually within one to two weeks it hardens up beautifully. 

Laketrout, I pre-make the creamed, right now have a lot stored down in our basement, which is cooler than the main part of the house. Even in our upstairs area the creamed stays perfectly creamed. Now if it is sitting where it gets a bit warmed, like near a toaster, in the sun, near the stove, it does start to separate. 

It sells for $12 a pound down here. We got a tasting license, once people tasted it at the farmers market, 90% of them bought a bottle. 
We sell a 5, 10 and 16 oz jar of it. Using the quilted jelly jars from walmart. The people that bought the 5oz usually came back to buy a 16oz jar. 

A easy way to get a good start is buy some of the sue bee creamed honey from a supermarket. We had a tub of mainly black locust honey, cream up on us, had it sitting on a cold floor in the kitchen. That was one of my starts. I also used the sue bee one year, just one tub made 10 lbs of creamed. 

My creamed honey has won 1st place at the fair for the last 3 years. You can't really feel any grit when you eat some. That is one of the judgements they use. 

Hiwire, 
we put our extra buckets in a chest freezer until needed, it keeps it from crystallizing. When we need to bottle up some for the winter we just set it out for a bit. I also have a bunch bottled up in the freezer, someone wants some I just pull it out, let it warm to room temperature, put a label on and sell to the person. We have two chest freezers just for the bees! The one with the bottled honey in it, is the one I use to freeze frames when they are taken out of hives.


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## Kenww (Apr 14, 2013)

I accidentally made creamed honey too. I harvested when it was really hot last summer and put it in the freezer. There were more open cells than I liked maybe 20 percent, so this winter, I thawed it and put it in a room with a dehumidifier for a month or two. It was almost impossible to extract. I ended up crushing and straining. It’s as thick as jelly, lighter in color than before it crystallized, very smooth, and tastes great. I didn’t have enough to sell. The people I gave samples to loved it. I don’t think anyone here knows what creamed honey is. I hope I can figure out how to make it intentionally this year for myself. I really prefer it this way.

Does creamed honey stay the same or do the crystals get bigger?


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## blackowl (Jul 8, 2015)

Where will be the best place to store it?


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## Woodstove (Jun 19, 2018)

I suppose if you're looking for the _best_ place to store your creamed honey, a wine fridge at 57 degrees would most likely be ideal. Since it's nothing more than finely crystallized honey, any climate controlled room in the house would do just as well as another. As long as you keep it away from direct sunlight and away from toasters or the top of the microwave, it won't (shouldn't) start to reliquify.


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## Fivej (Apr 4, 2016)

This is pretty funny. I came here because I accidentally made creamed honey and wanted to know how to continue to propagate it. found all my answers here thank you folks now I know what it feels like when a scientist makes a mistake and it turns into something great. J


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## Fivej (Apr 4, 2016)

Actually I do have a question. my wife and daughter liquified most of the creamed honey and so I don't have much left. I have about a half a pint left. How much liquid honey should I add? Can i assume a half pint of creamed is a half pound? Thanks, j


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## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

3 pounds a quart. 3/4 pounds a half pints.

How much seed you use will affect how quick it turns to creamed honey, you can also make it without any starter. The closer to 57 degrees the better. 

When I make five gallon batches I use a quart, it takes a little while longer but I'm not in a hurry. If you want it quick a 50/50 mix will get it creamed in a few days. I think the general rule is about 10% mix.


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## Fivej (Apr 4, 2016)

Thanks Flower!


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