Bottling Honey
Lexikon
Bottling is the last step of honey processing, in which the fully clarified honey, stirred to the desired consistency, goes into its sales jars.
Bottling is the last step of honey processing, in which the fully clarified honey, stirred to the desired consistency, goes into its sales jars. Before that, the honey passes through coarse and fine sieves, rests to clarify in the settling tank, and is stirred several times as needed, so that it later becomes finely creamy instead of hard or coarsely crystalline.
Whether and how much stirring is needed depends on the particular honey. Honeys with a high glucose content, such as rapeseed honey, crystallize quickly by nature and become very firm without stirring, while low-sugar honeydew honeys stay liquid longer. During stirring the honey is worked through slowly, several times a day over several days, without beating in air, until it has a pearly sheen and a fine, spreadable texture.
Only once this state is reached is the honey transferred into a bottling bucket with a pinch valve and filled from there into the jars in portions. For practice this applies: depending on the national Honey Regulation and the stricter requirements of the German Beekeepers' Association, there are limit values for water content that must already be ensured before harvest through the ripeness test, so that the bottled honey keeps well and does not start to ferment. A typical beginner's mistake is bottling too early or too impatiently, before the honey is fully clarified and, if desired, finished being stirred to a creamy consistency.