# Best things to do with a lot of honey. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 9, 2017, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-things-to-do-with-a-lot-of-honey/793167 "2017-08-09T11:11:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2017, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-things-to-do-with-a-lot-of-honey/793167/1 "2017-08-09T11:11:32Z")
I’ve just taken the first crop of honey off my bee hive. It’s not a massive amount by beekeeping standards- somewhere around 15lb- but that is quite a lot of honey for one person to use. I’m going to give some away to friends and family, but I don’t really like that many people, so I’ll still wind up with quite a bit at the end. So… what should I do with it? I don’t eat meat, which cuts a few options out. I’m going to try mead, and honey cake, but what else? It’s very light, with a mild flavour, mostly from [lime](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilia) flowers, I think. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2017, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-things-to-do-with-a-lot-of-honey/793167/2 "2017-08-09T11:48:50Z")
Your 15 pounds of honey could make about 5 gallons of mead. Mmmmmmmm ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2017, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-things-to-do-with-a-lot-of-honey/793167/3 "2017-08-09T12:34:57Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Your 15 pounds of honey could make about 5 gallons of mead. Mmmmmmmm Just what I came in to say. Pepper Mill has made several batches of mead, and it’s surprising how much honey is needed (and how much it costs). and here you have just such a large amount of it. You could turn it into candy, honey sugar, honey-roasted nuts, honey spread, and so on, but that only uses so much of your stock. And it’s not just mead. There are plenty of variations – _metheglin, melomel, pyment, cyser_, and so on. > **[Mead](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mead)** > > Mead (/miːd/), also called hydromel (particularly when low in alcohol content), is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey mixed with water, and sometimes with added ingredients such as fruits, spices, grains, or hops. The alcoholic content ranges from about 3.5% ABV to more than 20%. Possibly the most ancient alcoholic drink, the defining characteristic of mead is that the majority of the beverage's fermentable sugar is derived from honey. It may be still, carbonated, or na Mead that al... [http://www.skyriverbrewing.com/Mead/mead-honey-wine-varieties.html](http://www.skyriverbrewing.com/Mead/mead-honey-wine-varieties.html) ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2017, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-things-to-do-with-a-lot-of-honey/793167/4 "2017-08-09T12:38:08Z")
Also, you could increase the amount you give to the people you do like. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2017, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-things-to-do-with-a-lot-of-honey/793167/5 "2017-08-09T13:58:01Z")
This is really the problem with being a beekeeper: what to do with all the free honey? ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2017, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-things-to-do-with-a-lot-of-honey/793167/6 "2017-08-09T14:06:41Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > Also, you could increase the amount you give to the people you do like. The issue is jar size- I only have 8 oz jars… Giving a friend a jar of honey seems nice, giving them several jars seems odd, somehow. Plus then it gets complicated, because I don’t have enough jars to give everyone two, so I’d have to work out some kind of like/honey formula and maybe fall out with a few of them to make it all add up. I also only have one demijohn spare for mead- the others are still full of last year’s blackberry wine and cider. I’m moving house in a week, so it’ll have to wait until I get to my new place anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2017, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-things-to-do-with-a-lot-of-honey/793167/7 "2017-08-09T15:21:05Z")
Hmm. I just checked, and we buy honey in 44 oz jars–our family likes honey :). A batch of honey-wheat bread takes about 1/3 lb in the baking, and tons more in the eating (nothing beats a slice of homemade whole wheat toast slathered in butter and honey). We probably go through 3-6 jars of honey like this a year. Multiple 8 oz jars wouldn’t be weird at all to us. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2017, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-things-to-do-with-a-lot-of-honey/793167/8 "2017-08-09T15:33:41Z")
I sweeten my hot tea with honey. That uses a teaspoon. 😃 I use at least a quart a year. I love to spread it on hot toast. Honey is a great topping on vanilla ice cream. I always sweeten Cream of Wheat hot cereal with honey. You can cook with it. Replacing white sugar with honey. Cookbook [https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1771511087/ref=mp\_s\_a\_1\_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1502292724&sr=8-2&pi=AC\_SX236\_SY340\_FMwebp\_QL65&keywords=honey+cookbook&dpPl=1&dpID=51ORwUVC4iL&ref=plSrch](https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1771511087/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1502292724&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=honey+cookbook&dpPl=1&dpID=51ORwUVC4iL&ref=plSrch) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2017, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-things-to-do-with-a-lot-of-honey/793167/9 "2017-08-09T15:37:52Z")
I like honey drizzled over yogurt. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2017, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-things-to-do-with-a-lot-of-honey/793167/10 "2017-08-09T16:23:34Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I like honey drizzled over yogurt. Me, too - with walnuts. Somewhere or other I have a recipe for gingerbread (really more like a ginger cake), which is sweetened with honey rather than sugar. It’s really good stuff, all soft and muffin-like and full of ginger and cinnamon and nutmeg. Now I have to hunt up the recipe. I haven’t had it in years. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2017, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-things-to-do-with-a-lot-of-honey/793167/11 "2017-08-09T17:24:05Z")
I would use it in beer-making. PM me for shipping address. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![mistymage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mistymage/32/459_2.png) [@mistymage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mistymage)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2017, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-things-to-do-with-a-lot-of-honey/793167/12 "2017-08-09T17:31:39Z")
Honey candy that gets stored in the freezer: [Two Easy Honey Candy Recipes](https://thenerdyfarmwife.com/two-easy-honey-candy-recipes/) You could dehydrate it and then grind it into powder… it’s easy to do but it has to be stored immediately or it starts soaking up moisture from the air. Looking around the web some people use starch to help with that (powdered honey) and companies use various fructose mixes (or freeze drying) to make their powders stay dry. The powders are then used as sprinkles on desserts, in dry rub spice mixes or in cold or hot tea. [How to Dehydrate Honey | LEAFtv](https://www.leaf.tv/articles/how-to-dehydrate-honey/) It might be easier to just buy more jars to keep your extra honey in (or bigger jars). When we give away jars of salsa to friends and family they usually end up sending the empty jars back with “more, please and thank you”. We bought a case of cute pint jars for the give away vs the usual pint and quart jars for our own usage. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2017, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-things-to-do-with-a-lot-of-honey/793167/13 "2017-08-09T17:57:01Z")
The best smoothie in the world! 3 bananas, 2 tbsp of peanut butter powder, mocha mix, ice and honey. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2017, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-things-to-do-with-a-lot-of-honey/793167/14 "2017-08-09T18:14:24Z")
First of all, it’ll keep forever, so don’t worry about using it up quickly. Second, do you have any farmers’ markets around you? You could set up a booth for just one or two days, however long it takes to get rid of it. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2017, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-things-to-do-with-a-lot-of-honey/793167/15 "2017-08-09T18:27:03Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Second, do you have any farmers’ markets around you? You could set up a booth for just one or two days, however long it takes to get rid of it. Not legally. I know what the rules are round here, and it’s not worth the trouble to meet 'em for the amount I have to sell. I could probably sell a couple of jars to people I vaguely know, who won’t care about labelling restrictions and the like, but public sales are a definite no. Thanks for the recipe ideas- I did do a quick search, but all the recipes I seemed to find had mostly sugar, with just a few spoons of honey for extra flavour. I’m currently out of sugar… ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2017, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-things-to-do-with-a-lot-of-honey/793167/16 "2017-08-09T18:58:38Z")
Ah, OK, most of what I know about farmers’ markets comes from my mom, but she sells crafts, so doesn’t need to worry about food regulations. ---
**Author:** ![brainstall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@brainstall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainstall)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2017, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-things-to-do-with-a-lot-of-honey/793167/17 "2017-08-09T19:15:37Z")
Hot honey and lemon. Just boiling water, as much honey as you like for sweetness, and a squeeze of lemon to balance some of the sweetness. I can go through a lot of honey this way.