{"id":91,"date":"2020-07-28T11:00:51","date_gmt":"2020-07-28T11:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bs9honey.co.uk\/?page_id=91"},"modified":"2022-09-02T11:29:06","modified_gmt":"2022-09-02T11:29:06","slug":"types-of-local-honey","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/hillsboroughhoney.co.uk\/?page_id=91","title":{"rendered":"Types of Local Honey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Runny, Soft-Set and Naturally-Set<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am often asked what is the difference between runny, soft-set and naturally set honey.  The easiest way to answer this is that as natural honey (that is unblended, unpasteurised, non-homogenised honey &#8211; see below) is made up from the nectar that the bees collect.  As you would expect, this comes from a variety of different plants in the locality (current thinking is within a 3 mile foraging range) which are in flower.  The composition of nectar from each plant is different but, broadly, will be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>fructose dominant, e.g. blackberry <em>Rubus fructosis<\/em>,<\/li><li><span style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">glucose dominant, e.g. oilseed rape <\/span><em style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">Brassica napus<\/em>,<\/li><li>sucrose dominant, e.g white clover <em>Trifolium repens<\/em>,<\/li><li>or a combination of the above in (broadly) equal amounts.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Fructose dominant honey granulates slowly, but with a coarse grain &#8211; typically the runny summer honey.  Glucose dominant granulates quickly but with a fine grain &#8211; this is the honey used to make soft-set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Set (not soft-set) honey is runny honey that has been allowed to naturally set.  It can be rather hard to &#8220;spoon&#8221; out of the jar, but is still delicious on toast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/hillsboroughhoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/IMG_4977-1024x768.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-89\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hillsboroughhoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/IMG_4977-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/hillsboroughhoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/IMG_4977-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/hillsboroughhoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/IMG_4977-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/hillsboroughhoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/IMG_4977-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/hillsboroughhoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/IMG_4977-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/hillsboroughhoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/IMG_4977-1568x1176.jpeg 1568w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><figcaption>Runny Honey.  Fructose dominant, slow to set but will typically have a coarse grain &#8211; July 2020<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/hillsboroughhoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_1384-1024x633.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9\"\/><figcaption>Naturally Set Honey &#8211; April 2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/hillsboroughhoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/IMG_4075-1024x768.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-67\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hillsboroughhoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/IMG_4075-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/hillsboroughhoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/IMG_4075-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/hillsboroughhoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/IMG_4075-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/hillsboroughhoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/IMG_4075-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/hillsboroughhoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/IMG_4075-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/hillsboroughhoney.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/IMG_4075-1568x1176.jpeg 1568w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><figcaption>Soft-set Honey &#8211; May 2020<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>My Honey Has Started to Crystallise, What Should I Do?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The fact that honey crystallises, is the hallmark that you&#8217;ve not been sold adulterated syrup (sadly, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegrocer.co.uk\/food-safety\/tesco-honey-test-not-fit-for-purpose-say-food-safety-experts\/599902.article\">this is readily available<\/a>).  However, should you so wish the honey can be warmed and returned to its runny state in either of the following 2 ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1) <em>Microwave<\/em>. Open the jar, take the lid off.  Use short bursts (30 seconds), wait 20 seconds between bursts, this will keep it from overheating and give you a chance to see the affect. Once honey starts warming up, refit the lid and shaking will help to dissolve the crystals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2) <em>Warm water<\/em>. <strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>open the container and place in a water bath at 55C (as warm as you can keep a finger in it). Let it stand for about an hour. Repeat if needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Where Does Your Honey Come From?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>All of my hives are located in the Hillsborough area of BT26.  A legal requirement of selling honey is stating where it comes from: mine states <em>Produce of England<\/em>.  Many jars of honey in your local supermarket will state <em>Produce of EU and Non EU Countries<\/em>, which is tantamount to saying <em>We Have<\/em> <em>No Idea<\/em>.   Though this may seem trivial, there are copious examples (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2019\/jan\/31\/new-zealand-brings-first-manuka-honey-prosecution-chemicals\">here<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/5e9fb33a-174d-11ea-b869-0971bffac109\">here<\/a> just to name a few) of adulterated honey.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Baker&#8217;s Honey<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the Honey Regulations (yes, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legislation.gov.uk\/uksi\/2015\/1348\/pdfs\/uksi_20151348_en.pdf\">there are such things<\/a>), honey that has a water content between 20-23%, or has been heated must be sold as Baker&#8217;s Honey.  As you&#8217;ll have guessed, this is meant for cooking and, when compared to using normal honey, will result in an almost identical taste, but will (should have!) cost you less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From time-to-time a single super (the box where the bees store the honey) may have honey that is slightly over the 20% water content margin.  For example, 2 supers from my 2020 harvest had honeys whose water content was 21%.  Rather than waste these, I sell this as Baker&#8217;s Honey with a shorter Best Before Date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My Baker&#8217;s honey undergoes the same straining process (to remove particles of wax and the like) as my normal honey.  I must stress, though, it is <strong>not heated<\/strong>.  As such, it will appear, visually, the same as honey sold for the table, but its water content will be slightly above 20%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What to do with Baker&#8217;s Honey?  Well, some folk use it as a direct substitution for processed sugar in recipes; other recipes state the use of honey (e.g. flapjacks), which of course is more economical if you use Baker&#8217;s Honey.  Mead is also a great option.  There are many, many mead recipes available (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dave-cushman.net\/bee\/mead_roger_patterson.pdf\">this is the one I use, and the results are excellent<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Runny, Soft-Set and Naturally-Set I am often asked what is the difference between runny, soft-set and naturally set honey. The easiest way to answer this is that as natural honey (that is unblended, unpasteurised, non-homogenised honey &#8211; see below) is made up from the nectar that the bees collect. As you would expect, this comes &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/hillsboroughhoney.co.uk\/?page_id=91\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Types of Local Honey&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":92,"parent":184,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-91","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Types of Local Honey - local honey from BT26 hillsborough<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hillsboroughhoney.co.uk\/?page_id=91\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Types of Local Honey - local honey from BT26 hillsborough\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Runny, Soft-Set and Naturally-Set I am often asked what is the difference between runny, soft-set and naturally set honey. 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The easiest way to answer this is that as natural honey (that is unblended, unpasteurised, non-homogenised honey &#8211; see below) is made up from the nectar that the bees collect. 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