How to Make Creamed Honey

/ Bluebird Gardens/
Creamed honey becomes solid, is not sticky and ships easily, a must for my gifts.

Creamed honey becomes solid, is not sticky and ships easily, a must for my gifts.

How to Make Creamed Honey

When I think about how worried I was before the first time I tried to make whatever you want to call this - whipped honey, spun honey, I call it creamed honey - let me assure you. this is NOT hard to do. There are a couple of key steps that make this a success so let me cover those right here:

1. You will need an area that is not heated to store the seeded honey in jars to set. I have used both an unheated storage area and my garage, both successfully. Ideal temperature is around 50F to 57F.

2. You will need a seed starter. There are several options on the market from a dry powder option to actual creamed honey. I have only used actual creamed honey and started with one I found at a grocery store. Once I had mine, however, I didn't have to buy any more because I used mine as my starter for my next batches.

3. The containers you want to pour the seeded honey in. There is no middle step in this process, no weeks in between when you make the creamed honey and when you bottle it. The raw honey is mixed with the seed, then it is poured into the final containers to set. If you are planning to make this for gifts, then collect the containers you plan to use and have them clean, on hand and ready to be used.

I start with a nice smooth creamed honey for starter, such as Sue Bee Spun Honey. A friend has used a start of my creamed honey and made her own, and so forth.

I start with a nice smooth creamed honey for starter, such as Sue Bee Spun Honey. A friend has used a start of my creamed honey and made her own, and so forth.

How to Make Creamed Honey

The basic ratio is one part creamed honey to 10 parts raw strained honey. Select a wonderful seeded honey to start because the raw strained honey will copy those crystals.

Pour the room temperature raw honey in a bowl; add the room temperature seeded honey, then slowly mix it. When I started, I would carefully mix by hand, which is fine for small quantities. This time, I mixed it with a beater on low until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes or so. Don't beat on high or you will end up with huge air bubbles in the mixture. 

Pour into containers. Add lids. I lined a cardboard box with plastic, added the containers, then stored in the cool area to set.

Since I used a beater on low to mix the honey and seed, the creamed honey had tiny bubbles. I could have left the mixture in the bowl overnight, scooped the froth with bubbles off, then poured the mixture into the containers but I didn't think about that at the time.

Here's how my tiny containers looked with their tiny bubbles.

This year's creamed honey mixed on low with a mixer had small bubbles once it was set.

This year's creamed honey mixed on low with a mixer had small bubbles once it was set.

The 2 oz. containers set within a day. The larger 6 oz. containers set within a couple of days so I am assuming larger containers will take a little longer to be ready. In general, it should take a week to 10 days for the honey to fully set so I left them for the full time.

If you don't like how they turned out, place the mixture in a glass jar in a pan of hot water off the heat source and let it melt back to liquified honey. I have also fed creamed honey back to my bees on a warm winter day to enjoy watching them.

Store creamed honey in a cool area, not close to heat such as the stove or in a window. For most people, it doesn't last long so they don't have to worry about storage!

Charlotte