Tried to infuse a jar of honey with blueberries.
Yeah…that went well. I shoulda squashed them first, because now they’re just floating at the top and not doing anything.
Tried squishing them against the glass, but they’re refusing to pop.
Sad blueberry honey experiment is probs just gonna wind up on toast and will not be spoken of ever again.
OH GOD IT’S BEGINNING TO FERMENT
I think I ruined a perfectly good jar of honey 😦
NO YOU STARTED A PERFECTLY GOOD BATCH OF MEAD.
Lean into it!
WHAT SHOULD I DO
add water?
(it’s prob .6-.75 lbs of honey, for the record)
OKAY SO
Get some more honey. I use 3 pounds for a batch of mead.
Take half a gallon of water. Heat it until just simmering, then remove from heat and stir in honey. Once it cools a bit sprinkle in…oh, in this case, maybe a teaspoon of yeast. White wine yeast works best but regular will work ok too.
Sterilize something to let it ferment in. A milk jug would work. Splash a little bleach in there, fill with water, let sit a bit, then wash out well.
Once fermenting vessel is sterilized, pour the honey/water/berries/yeast in. Take a balloon and stretch it over the top of the jug, and prick a pinhole in it. This will keep outside wild yeasts out but let out co2 as it ferments.
Leave it for a month or so.
Then, bottle and drink!
YIELD; 1 gallon of mead, or about 4 ½ 750 mL average size wine bottles.
You mean to tell me I only need a milk jug and a balloon to make mead?
Yes that is exactly what I am saying.
Tag: honey
Ooops-Those-Bananas-Are-Brown Scones! (Minus the two and a half that we ate before photographing.)
I pretty much stuck to the recipe this time, just swapping the two flours out for GF flour blend. I had to add a little extra flour when bringing it together into a dough because my egg was big and I guesstimated the amount of honey left in the jar was roughly the right amount, but it was probably more, so the mix was wetter as a result. I also cooked it for an extra five mintues again, because my oven is still slow, and the extra moisture needed to cook out. It was super hard to cut this into equal portions because it was sticky as and just wanted to glue itself to the knife, even with a little oil on the blade.
The flavour’s really great on this one, so I probably won’t modify it in the future, unless I want to change it up by adding nuts or choc chips or something. I might try using a flour like buckwheat or brown rice in place of the whole wheat, too, to try and get that deeper flavour in there.
COAL MINERS SHIFT TO BEEKEEPING – American Bee Journal
Appalachian Beekeeping Collective is headquartered at an old camp that was once owned and operated by coal mining companies that saw thousands of kids of coal miners go through the camp from different mining states.
“These people are so tied to this place. When I was there over the summer, at least twice a week somebody would drive by and say, ‘I went to camp here 50 years ago. This place means so much to me’ so it’s a really special spot,” said Delaney. “There’s so much rich history there.”
Because the people are tied to the land and invested in the history of the area, Delaney said that it made sense to get them involved in beekeeping.
“They’re native and they’ve been there for generations and they know every mountain, every hill has a name even though it might not be on a map. Because they’re so tied to the land, this operation had to be something that was sustainable and that was also very connected to the environment and beekeeping is definitely both of those things,” said Delaney.
The area also has a rich history of beekeeping as Delaney said she would find antique beekeeping equipment at area flea markets.
“Everybody’s grandfather had bees. It’s because it’s all hardwood forests there, which all produce nectar and pollen and so it’s a really good area for beekeeping, really high quality forage. I think both of those things make it ideal,” said Delaney.
The plan is for those beekeepers to keep their own apiaries but get bees raised by the Appalachian Bee Keeping Collective.
“We’re trying to raise a strain of Appalachian honey bee that is mite resistant and that’s a big piece of what Debbie is doing,” said Asquith. “She’s really skilled with natural beekeeping methods and has been a really big help for us.”
Asquith said that the first class of beekeepers, who will be trained over fall and winter, will number around 35 but next year the program will ramp up to include 85 beekeepers.
YES YES YES YES YES V. GOOD
I WANT TO MINE BEES!!!!! :DDDD
Nice to hear about a good thing for a change.
This is archetypal Good News.
knitting in the dark 