What to do with REALLY old super dark honey

[Nifty]

We're cleaning up and found some really old honey. I think my dad was keeping it to give to someone with bees (he thought the bees could use it as food)?

Anyway, what should I do with a bunch of bottles of really old dark honey?

 

[reinbeau]

Do you know where the honey came from? Yes, you can feed it to your bees (use it for fall supplemental food if you want) but you need to be sure the hive where it came from was disease free. Have you tasted it? May be good in tea!

 

[Nifty]

Unfortunately I don't know a thing about it. My mom thinks my dad put it in smaller jars from a woman that had a 5 gallon container for emergency food storage (and she didn't want it anymore).

 

[Blackbird]

How well is it sealed?

We've eaten dark honey before. Apperently when its crystalized your supposed to put the jar in hot water so it will heat up and eventually liquify, something similar anyway.

We ate it even if it was crystalized.

 

[ORChick]

I have some honey just like that. My neighbour where I used to live had inherited a large bucket from the previous owners of her house, and she didn't know what to do with it. She gave me a couple of quarts. I keep forgetting that I have it, so have most of it left. That means what I have is verifiably 10 years old - but is certainly much older. It is dark like molasses, and tastes strong like molasses, so I tend to use it like molasses. This is definitely not a dainty honey for sweetening tea ; this is more for making molasses cookies. Pure honey will keep for ages, so I would suggest tasting some of it, and use it where the taste would fit.

 

[Iceblink]

The bee books I have read say that honey never goes bad. In fact, someone found some honey in an Egyptian tomb and it was still good.

Depending on the pollen the honey was made from, it might have been dark to begin with. Some honeys are lighter or darker than others naturally.

I use honey in baking a lot, as it keeps the baked stuff moist. That might be a good use for strong tasting honey. Honey pancakes are good too.

 

[dacjohns]

Use it. The flavor might be really strong but it should be good. I just recently finished off some that was from about 1983. Yes, 1983.

 

[Nifty]

This stuff is easily older than I am. I'm guessing 1970 or so.

My wife won't eat / tough it, so I'll give some to my mom (she'll eat anything) and the rest to a guy that was a long term member of BYC that lost 4/6 hives this last winter.

 

[angelib1]

They found honey in the egyption tombs that was still good. AND dark honey is my favorite good in coffee and strong dark teas, use it in making bread, cookies ect. for heavens sake don't hrow it out or anything,

 

[noobiechickenlady]

Send me some!
I like the dark honey for coffee & cookies. It fits well in most anything with a stronger taste. And yeah, Merle is right, just liquify it by putting some in a container & put the container in a pot of HOT water.

Thats terrible about the member who lost his hives.