Powdered/Dehydrated Honey

[Jeepers]

Anyone know where I can buy some powdered honey without ANY additives? I see it with added sugars and stabilizers etc. but none with just honey. One place said their honey was spray honey. I have no idea what that is.

 

I want to try to make a dried recipe that can be stored dry and then reconstituted later. I haven't come up with the recipe yet (still in the thinking stage) but the only thing I'm lacking is the dried honey.

 

I suppose I could dehydrate some. I don't have one of those 'leather' making trays for my dehydrator though. Maybe line it with wax paper? Ugh, I think I have too many irons in the fire right now to experiment and have a failure.

 

P.S. I don't have an Ebay account. Yeah, I'm that one.

[jeanettecentaur]

I have Thrive Honey Crystals from Shelf Reliance and the first ingredient is Refinery Sugar (Refined cane sugar) and the 2nd and last ingredient is Honey. Essentially that reconstitutes into "honey sauce" and if I had paid attention to that ingredient list I probably would not have bought them. What can I say? I was caught up in the moment at a Saxet Gun Show!!! That said, it does have at least 25 year shelf life and less weight and easy pour/use.

 

Here is my thought process these days...Why would I take beautiful local honey with an unlimited shelf life and medicinal properties and turn it into crystal sweetener? I can just use Raw Cane Sugar at that point. The "dead" honey won't reconstitute into a natural antimicrobial burn treatment or sore throat remedy.

 

What are your plans for crystal honey, Jeepers? I can see it being handy for pre-made meals in a jar.

[Jeepers]

My "Plan" is to mix up dried ingredients into cute bottles and have them on a shelf or give as gifts. The liquid part is honey and either water or vodka.

 

I'm thinking elderberries, cinnamon, clove, ginger, vanilla pod and I'm not sure what else yet. I wanted the powdered honey as part of the dry portion. That way to use it, just boil everything with either water or vodka and strain it and use it as a syrup. I figure it should keep in a fridge for 3 months or the winter duration using vodka. I'll use vanilla vodka. A spoon full in a cup of hot tea or what ever should help keep some of the winter crud away...maybe. Vanilla vodka or cherry vodka would be a good carrier. Personally, I'd stay away from using water as it might mold. Except if I was making it for children. Then no vodka at all.

 

I'm thinking more along the lines of gifts so I want it to be as easy and healthy as possible. And for me to have all of the dry stuff already mixed up.

 

I didn't see any 'honey only" dehydrated honey. Maybe a market for that????

[Mt_Rider]

Emergency Essentials.....

 

I couldn't find an ingredients list... Maybe it's just 'honey'? Could call their number.

 

http://beprepared.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=powdered+honey

 

 

Sell in #10 cans or smaller cans.

 

MtRider

[The WE2's]

You'll have a tough time I fear of finding REAL honey that is dehydrated...you can't hardly even find it in it's liquid form these days :-( It's so "adulterated" it isn't funny. I've read (who knows?) that if the "honey" has sugar in it, it will crystalize...but again...who knows? The honey we buy at the Mennonite stores we think is the real stuff. I change out the lid and use a solid piece gasket type metal lid, and ours seems to stay really well.

[Jeepers]

Humm, they don't give any info. All of the other sources gave all the label info and even mentioned if their products were manufactured using the same equipment as for peanut products or gluten.

 

If I can remember with the time difference, I'll call them tomorrow.

[Mt_Rider]

Any real honey will crystallize when it gets cold. I'm not sure about the watered honey. I've been so annoyed with honey in containers with small openings for pouring. Our cabin is often chilly enough to cause massive crystallization and then you can't get the honey out of the container. I've had one quart container upside down over a wide mouth canning jar for a month now. As the sun hit it, a little more re-liquefies and drips down. I've never been able to heat a plastic container enough to get it liquid again. Wish I'd just poured it into a better container when I first bought it and avoided this trouble.

 

But...turning dark or crystallizing is not a problem for honey. It's still good. Darker honey will have a stronger taste tho.

 

MtRider ....need to take my honey to the beaches of Maui.....

Edited November 2, 2015 by Mt_Rider

[Twilight]

I buy honey by the gallon and put it in quart or pint jars. Then it can be set on the stove near a burner without fear of melting.

I have eaten raw honey / comb all my life and never had any to spoil regardless of the age. The only time honey is likely to be bad is if it is green..or uncapped. It should never be taken from the hive in that condition

[Mt_Rider]

Yep, Twilight....that's my goal next time. Get it into wide mouth glass containers right away! I think I'm going to have to cut that stupid container open to get the honey out to re-liquefy it! If you call on the dehydrated at EE, Jeepers, can you let us know what you find out?

 

MtRider

Edited November 2, 2015 by Mt_Rider

[Jeepers]

I finally got through to them. I was on hold for about 45 minutes. Anyway, the first ingredient was SUGAR. There was also corn syrup, something that started with an "M", artificial coloring and last...honey. No wonder they didn't list the label on line.

 

Can you set your honey in a pan of hot water sort of like a double boiler effect? Most people just zap it a few seconds in the microwave but if I remember correctly you don't use one.

[The WE2's]

As for crystalization...we've had our do it in a warm, toasty oven...IF the lid isn't absolutely air tight. I had a jar do that, so I boiled a pan of water and set the jar (lid on) down in it. Kept adding hot water until it finally soaked down and became liquid. That's when I started replacing the plastic lids lined with cardboard. The white metal gasket lids I buy now are wonderful. We even buy the large "PET" storage containers at WM, fill them with goodies as far to the top as possible, put in an oxygen absorber, and crank on one of these lids...and it seals wonderfully. Learned that from Honeyville :-)

[Mt_Rider]

I wouldn't microwave honey cuz we use it medicinally sometimes [like DH just got stung by a bee in the bed tonite. Sheeesh!] and microwaves destroy some factors in foods. And yeah, don't own one.

 

I switched to a new glass jar...the first one was half full. I think I'll just cut the stupid plastic jug. I like to reuse containers but this one is history. Can't get the water hot enough to get thru the big CHUNK of crystallized honey. It's not even touching the sides of the jug by now.....so that completely won't work.

 

 

Here's some science behind crystalline behavior that I learned from the reusable hand warmers. You know the kind that have fluid in a heavy plastic packet ....there is a metal circle that you SNAP to start off the sequence of crystals forming. [i don't know HOW that starts it] Anyway, once the fluid in the packet is allllllllll turned to a solid, locked in crystalline form. That's when it gets heat from that process. [and I don't know the science to explain that either!]

 

Here is the science I DO know. To reuse these packets [unlike the air activated hand warmers which are NOT reusable] ...you put the solid packet in very hot water until ALL the crystals have "unformed". .........AND I DO MEAN EVERY SINGLE MOLECULE OF CRYSTAL HAS TO BE UNDONE..... Cuz the crystallizing is more "contagious" than the common cold. If you take the packet out of the hot water before every one is un-crystallized, ZAP...the process of crystallizing begins again and in a minute you have a whole solid, hot packet again. After doing this mistake [and you can't SEE it] a couple times, I now leave the packet in the water until the water cools naturally. That seems to ensure this re-crystallizing doesn't occur.

 

 

So apply this to honey....which also has a tendency to crystallize. I assume that once formed, you have to get ALLLLLLL molecules UN-crystallized at once.....or else the "contagion" spreads again.

 

 

I'm so not the scientist I'd like to be ....this is a guess. I just know it's awful hard to get a batch of honey to completely un-crystallize. You can still use it if you can scrape it out with a spoon. Just harder to spread on toast. ...and it's crunchy.

===================================

 

Jeepers....whew! Glad you checked on EE. I WONDERED why I couldn't find the ingredients list cuz they usually have it. So IS there a way to dehydrate pure and solely HONEY?

 

Honey with anything added is not expected to last for hundreds of years in the Egyptian pyramids, btw. Especially if it's mixed with water....and so much in grocery stores are.

 

 

MtRider ....makes me wonder what the peanutbutter powder, shortening powder, and other such items really have in the ingredients list???

Edited November 3, 2015 by Mt_Rider

[The WE2's]

As for crystalization...we've had our do it in a warm, toasty oven...IF the lid isn't absolutely air tight. I had a jar do that, so I boiled a pan of water and set the jar (lid on) down in it. Kept adding hot water until it finally soaked down and became liquid. That's when I started replacing the plastic lids lined with cardboard. The white metal gasket lids I buy now are wonderful. We even buy the large "PET" storage containers at WM, fill them with goodies as far to the top as possible, put in an oxygen absorber, and crank on one of these lids...and it seals wonderfully. Learned that from Honeyville :-)

correction...warm toasty kitchen :-)

[Mt_Rider]