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Fruits in honey
Sun-dried fruits with as low a moisture content as possible should be
used, but they should still be soft. They can be placed directly into the
honey, either whole, chopped or pureed. Partially dried fruits or those with
a high moisture content even when dried should be covered with honey for a
few days in a sealed container. After the honey is poured off the process
can be repeated two or three times until the honey is no longer diluted with
water quice) from the fruits. Then the fruits can be mixed with the final
batch of honey and bottled. This process is necessary since the juice in the
fruit will add too much water to the honey. Pasteurization of both fruits
and honey will improve hygiene and storability and will reduce the risk of
fermentation, but may affect the flavour. The diluted honey which is removed
during the process can be used as fruit syrup preferably after being
pasteurized.
Nuts in honey
The previous process can be repeated with nuts, but as commercially
available nuts are already fairly dry, they do not usually need to be dried
any further. Care should be taken that the honey flavours mix well with the
chosen nuts. Since a nut and honey mix can also have a considerable
aesthetic appeal, light coloured, liquid, slow crystallizing honey should be
used. Distinctive glass jars can add flirther consumer appeal.
If bottled by hand, or if the bottling machine allows, honey and nuts
can be mixed before bottling. Otherwise the correct amount of honey should
be placed into the jar and the nuts added later. The correct ratios need to
be adjusted for each nut type. Nuts should be tightly packed so that they
cannot float to the top and leave a pure honey stratum at the bottom. Some
packers use a special clear plastic insert to keep the nuts from floating to
the top.
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