ha ha- mum also uses those same hexagonal jars- great for natural honey but not so great for creamed honey. If you could get jars like the old vegemite ones- that can be used as glasses afterwards- they would be ideal. Such a good idea- I wish more jarred things at the supermarket were in that form…
how much do your blocks weigh? Mum’s are around 140 grams I think.
hey Michelle, couldn’t agree more, I have been trying to find an attractive wide mouthed jar for that same reason. Choice of jars in Australia is very limited and costly thus why we have stuck with the smaller hexagon jars (250ml). My bars weigh around 220gms.
jars sure are expensive- I was surprised. And the quality on some of the fancy honey pot ones is not very good- they are thin and crack easily. The hex jars are nice and solid but pricey. sort of a cross between a jar/tub would be ideal for creamed and table honey.
(BTW- my name is jack- Michelle is my mum- I stole her flow account ages ago. One day I will finally change the settings…)
Oh sorry Jack, where I live in Sydney doesn’t suit plastic, they like the quality feel of the jars and are happy to pay a premium for it. Will keep an eye out for something different from either Cospack or Plasdene in the meantime. Another big advantage of the honey bars is the savings on the costs of the jars and the customers seem to like the fact that there is almost no waste… Win-Win!
I’m in South East Idaho in the USA and am trying this out too. I’m a little worried as my seed honey is still some-what pourable, so I’m not too hopeful that it’ll hold its shape after the 4-6 weeks in the fridge. I guess time will tell.
Is your wrapper just a type of plastic?
I believe that @Dee makes creamed honey. In the UK, Gale’s Set Honey was my father’s favourite when I was a child - it was the same consistency as creamed honey. When I was about 4 years old, he used to sit me on the kitchen worktop and spread a spoonful over a digestive biscuit for me while he made the morning cups of tea. Lovely memories.
Wow, looks awesome made into the different shapes 
Hi Rod
I have some of your creamed honey bars and the texture is fantastic.
I’ve been reading about making creamed honey elsewhere and all the recipes call for a cool cellar (about 10 degrees or so) and some say the crystallisation won’t happen in the fridge? I’m guessing that this is incorrect and it’s just slower? Is that right?
I’m in Qld so finding somewhere cool throughout the day is not easily done.
Rae
Hi Rae, glad you like the bars, getting the smooth silky texture is the key. It took some time and experimenting to get the texture just right. I use the fridge to set the honey which takes about 4 weeks. Will take longer at 10C.
Ideal temperature is 14 degrees when a jar will set in a week. Outside these temperatures it takes longer but will eventually set. In my experience. 5% seed will take longer than 10% but there is little advantage to using more than the 10
Thanks Dee for the clarification - that was what I thought. I was thrown off by a recipe whose instructions said crystals wouldn’t form at all in the fridge.
They won’t form in the freezer.
When I used to do cut comb I used to package it and keep it in the freezer, taking it out to sell as needed. Never got it crystallised at all
I swear I’ve seen instruction somewhere that say another method to creamed honey is to combine (some amount of) crystallized honey and (some amount of) liquid honey in a kitchen mixer and mix for like an hour. Any one tried this? I was trying to do something with the leftover honey from last year that has crystallized, and it does cream it nicely, but it separates after a few days/weeks into about 1/3 crystalized, some liquid and some creamed and kinda fluffy.
Or any other ideas of what to do with crystalized honey? heat it up I suppose.
Yes you can just gently warm candied honey to get it to return to liquid.
As for creaming: I guess that may work if you mix it for ages. basically that IS how you make creamed honey- only for a very good creamed honey you start with a ‘seed’ of very very fine crystals- not regular crystallized honey which has larger crystals. I suppose if you mix it thoroughly enough and for long enough you will break down the original crystals… but if even a few survive then the entire batch might end up being more like candied honey than creamed.
Basically the way it works is a single crystal sets off a chain reaction - and the crystals that form around it are the same size as the original ‘seed’ crystal.
So the best approach is to either use good creamed honey as your seed and mix it in well at a ratio of roughly 1 part seed to 10 parts honey- or - get some candied honey and use a mortar and pestle to break the crystals down until they are so small you can’t really register them as individual crystals on your tongue. This can take quite a long time… The finer they are the better the creamed honey will be.
Once you have made a good seed once- you don’t have to do it again as you just keep some of your creamed honey to act as your seed for the next batch.
@Rodderick I just noticed above you said you put them in a fridge for several weeks: I can confirm that my mum simply stores them in a cool room when the temps are around 14C and they set in under a week. The only problem with that is it can’t be done in summer. We are considering getting an old fridge and seeing if there is a way to get it to run at 14c.
Spot on Jack, I have a whole fridge just for creamed honey, thermostat is on the lowest setting. I think most importantly is to have a constant and consistent temperature for the crystals to grow evenly.
I wish you would come to my neighborhood Farmers Market with your creamed honey chocolates
Hi all … has anyone tried wrapping the blocks in home made cotton bees wax wraps ? … I have just made my first lot of creamed honey; 3 weeks ago … and placed in glass jars … now wish had placed in the silicon moulds and wrapped … maybe in my home made wraps …
Did it turn really hard? I made some 4 weeks ago and it’s still creamy. I filled it into wide mouthed jars and it is (as yet) easy to scrape out.
Wrapping in beeswax wrap is a very nice idea.
Yes it is quite firm. I whipped it using a commercial mixer with a paddle and it was wonderful and creamy … placed in a container to settle over 24hrs then into jars … held at 4dg … no separation … really happy … did it after the workshop held at Tocal … the guy was fantastic in sharing his hints … but long story … next lot I am going to wrap in bees wax wraps and see how it goes
I bet there was a lot to learn at Tocal. Thanks for sharing your way of creaming.
How much did you make in one batch in the mixer? Did you use 10% of seed? Did you heat the honey or strain it before?
I left mine just in the cool pantry, maybe 18C. Might take ages to harden up.