Paging Bee Keepers

You could be sitting on a fortune, if you have any honey left!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7734769.stm

Honey supplies could run out by xmyth.

 

Old news.

We've had a bumper harvest this year, actually. But people have been
banging on the door for honey (The Doctor's listed on the BBKA site as
a supplier, and word of mouth has done its bit.

She's upped her prices to £4/lb and still thinks she'll sell out
before Xmas.

 

Blimey! I had the same thought.

Well, I almost posted something along the lines of "M$" and/or "$ky"
anyway.

 

To bee keepers and a few others, the causes will be old news - even I
knew about it, FFS. What I (and now millions of consumers) didn't
realise is how fucked supplies are.

Well, now that it's been bellowed across the airwaves, to all and
sundry, panic buying will most likely start. An opportunuty for you to
exploit the law of supply and demand and hike the prices. I know I
would be raising the price by a quid immediately and bunging a few
more quid on the price, in stages, as supplies dwindle. If it runs out
altogether, your stocks could sell for whatever you fancy. £25 a
pound, maybe?

 

Should I be concerned when I hear how fucked honey supplies are?

 

AOL.

 

Don't see why it should be. Honey's a natural antiseptic, for a start.

 

I know that, but the OP wasn't about a shortage of bees, rather a
shortage of honey.

Maybe Lemsip and Lockets prices will skyrocket.

 

Not to mention Suger Puffs.

 

Damn, I knew there was something I forgot. There it was being packed
away in front of my very eyes and I never bought some.

 

The same reason I don't, probably. If you do sell it, you're supposed
to keep track of all
treatments you use in the hive (for varroa, etc). You're also supposed
to ensure that
the jars meet the weight that you're supposed to put on them, and
there are
minimum labelling requirements (one guy got done because he had
pictures
of apple blossom on his labels and he couldn't prove the bees had
been
foraging on apple blossom...).

I prefer to give it away, it's much less hassle.

 

I really don't think pasteurising stops honey from crystallising. But
maybe. I'll ask her.

The Doctor's in the BBKA. I think they have a general insurance policy
to cover it.

It's fun.

 

The Honey Monster could do with going on a bit of a diet anyway, so it's not
all bad news.

--
JackH

98 Honda VFR800FiW
05 Sachs Madass
03 VW Passat TDI Sport
89 Vauxhall Nova 1.3 Pearl

 

It's the heating, rather than the pasteurisation, that
stops crystallisation (you don't need to get it
anywhere near bug-killing temps).

It also (apparently) affects the taste if you over
do it.

I warm mine to help with the filtering and bottling.

 

You snipped the bit about not needing to get bug-killing temps.

*That's* pasteurisation.

 

Yeah, the fat fucker!

 

WTF does he do with it?!?!?

 

Hmmm a large Victorian cast iron double bath over a heating system
keeping the honey at a comfortable 37degC........

 

"Do you want it pasteurised?"
"No, up to me tits'll do."