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II. THE RIPENING AND MATURING OF HONEY.
All honey should be thoroughly ripened and matured before being placed upon the market; otherwise it will rapidly deteriorate, to the injury of the producer and the industry generally. All beekeepers are fully aware of and admit this; nevertheless, occasionally unripe honey finds its way to the markets, eventually to be condemned through fermentation. In the absence, however, of any reliable method for deciding when honey is ripe, beekeepers are not wholly blamable for being mistaken on this point.
AMOUNT OF MOISTURE IN HONEY.
Nectar or honey when first gathered contains a variable quantity of water, usually ranging from 18 to 23 per cent., according to the weather. Mr. Otto Hehner, F.I.C., F.C.S., public analyst, and analyst to the British Beekeepers’ Association, in a lecture before that body some years ago stated, ‘‘Essentially, honey consists of water and of sugar. Of the water I need say but little except that I have found it to vary in quantity from 12 to 23 per cent., the normal proportion being from 18 to 21 per cent. When the percentage falls below 18 the honey is generally very hard and solid; when it is higher than 21 it is frequently quite or almost clear.’’
In Thorpe’s ‘‘Dictionary of Applied Chemistry,’’ page 286, the maximum, minimum, and average amount of moisture in twenty-five samples of honey examined are given as follows: Maximum, 23.26 per cent.; minimum, 12.43 per cent.; and the average of the twenty-five, 19.3 per cent.
Honey containing an excess of moisture is unripe and bound sooner or later to ferment, but when such moisture is reduced below a certain percentage the honey is said to be ripe, and it will in that condition keep good for any length of time. There is in the Agricultural Museum at Wellington a sample over sixteen years old, in splendid condition. At what point the ‘‘excess’’ of moisture commences we have no definite knowledge. The different works available contain no guidance on the question.
It is extraordinary that, considering the importance of the subject the ripening and maturing of honey has never been discussed in bee literature—at any rate, in the best that has appeared for over thirty years. We have had volumes of vague statements and assertions by correspondents in the various bee journals, but nothing of value.
