My objective for today was to get another batch of honey bottled and ready for sale.
It's not a particularly arduous task, but it is time consuming. Each batch of honey will take a couple of hours to clarify in the hot water bath, and I tend to process two batches on each occasion. This will yield about eleven pounds of honey,* which should keep the stall stocked for a couple of weeks.
The preparations include sterilising jars and making sure that my work area is clean and tidy. It is no surprise that I don't achieve much else on a day like today.
Previously I used to bottle all of my honey immediately after extracting it from the frames. This seemed to be quite efficient, but I found that the crop would often crystallise in the jars. Set honey doesn't seem to sell well to my clientele, so I found myself struggling to clarify honey that had already been bottled.
Bottling a batch every couple of weeks seems to be the best way forward. I rarely have problems with crystallisation and honey is far easier to bulk store in lidded, food safe buckets.
So that was my Tuesday, honey bottling interspersed with general pottering ... actually I stuck my head in a book whenever I could,** although 30% and I did head out for a short walk with the dogs in the afternoon.
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* 22 x eight ounce jars.
** It is interesting that as soon as autumn arrives I tend to read again. All summer my reading has been limited to news websites, the New Scientist, and general crap on the internet. Now the leaves are turning I find time for a good, and regular, helping of fiction.
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