Grandma Baker's Advice Column

Grandma Baker is a character in the YA novel I am working on. She is in her early 70's and has lived a life full of gardening, cooking, caring for her family, canning and knitting. She has always wanted to answer questions in an advice column, so I thought I'd give her that chance.

If you have any questions for Grandma Baker, please post them as comments and I'll ask Grandma for her answers and post them here. Sound good?

Question: What is the procedure for making creamed honey?
Answer: Now, you might think I wouldn't know the answer to this question, but way back when, my husband and I were beekeepers and I happen to know how to do this. So, here goes. Creamed honey is honey that has crystalized, but the crystals are nice and small, so they make the honey spreadable. To make it, start with a gallon of liquid honey and add an unflavored starter of creamed honey that you've purchased from the store. A pint will do. Sue Bee is one brand. You'll want a large, long auger attachment for an electric drill. Mix the creamed honey starter into the liquid honey with the drill until it is well mixed. This tells the honey to make more small, spreadable crystals.

The next part is important. You need to keep the honey in a cool place, about 57 degrees fahrenheit. The basement storage room works great for me. Keep checking your honey to see if it is all cloudy with fine crystals. It will probably take a week or two. Once it is all uniformly crystalized, it's done! Go ahead and pour it into smaller containers and enjoy or sell it. That's what we used to do, way back when, at the local Farmers Market. But, that's another story for another day.