Honey shows.

[fatshark]

I've had some fun entering shows, but precious little success. One of the most enjoyable aspects is getting tips and tricks from the near-OCD 'passionates' as Gavin terms them. It's amazing/pathetically sad (delete as you see fit) to see how some prepare their exhibits. A good judge at a local honey show i.e. sympathetic to the beginner and with a good sense of humour, makes for a very enjoyable evening. We had one show where all entries in the mead competition were rejected outright as being "industrial" (if I remember, none of the bottles had much in after the show closed ) and one where my - hopeless - attempt at a honey cake was returned with a small handwritten label in the bag that said "I wouldn't buy it, but I'd happily eat it".

[Greengage]

I thought I was going to get chewed out for suggesting that I would hate to win one of these cups, but it looks like I am not in the minority. If you look at the prize giving it is the same people all the time that win, now fair play to them if thats what your into. I was thinking of buying the winners honey and repackaging it and entering it again to see what the reaction would be, (Being Mischievous) bit like in the film Calender girls where your woman bought the cake that won.
I was at a poultry fancy show earlier in the year and the was blue murder because the top show bird on Championship corner was not owned or bred by the winner it was purchased in England after winning a number of shows and then hawked around Ireland by its new owner and won again. This year at another show I know the same thing will happen again as birds are brought in. But back to the bees from what I have heard there is a lot of black arts involved in producing honey for show and I dont think it would be very palatable to eat some of it.

[Mellifera Crofter]

I don't know ... I've not noticed any shenanigans in our association's shows! I quite like the idea of participating, but I've only managed it twice so far. One of the trophies is a silver plate with people's names engraved on it by, I do think, a master engraver. It's beautifully done, each name in a different font. I can't remember to which category this trophy belongs, but I must find out so that I can win it and admire the calligraphy for a year.
Kitta

[Jon]

Jon, What does that say about the judges sense of taste ?

Neither of us usually enters stuff in the shows so I guess we think the same.
I won the '12 jars with labels stuck on category' one year but they opened about 5 of them and broke the seals during the judging. Presumably to confirm it was inedible.
I also won about 3 Euro at Gormanston for a photo of a bee with willowherb pollen a few years back so I guess that makes me a full on serious OCD show animal.

[Jon]

I have to admit to finding the process/activity ever so slightly amusing...

You and me both! It was the same at the winemakers circle or any other club where the activity gets turned into a life or death competition.

[alancooper]

a honey cake when judged is cut in half

I can beat this - my first winning honey cake was cut up and given to the children - the perfect end for a winning cake.

[busybeephilip]

I'm still eating mine, it gets better with age !

Have to add, it was not a fisrt prize but got 2nd and 3rd in cake and loaf

[Calluna4u]

Have never entered a honey show. Firstly could not tolerate the fussy retentiveness of the process, and also disagree with many of the criteria used in the judging (was roped in in an emergency to judge the honey at a weekend conference I was a speaker at. it was a political minefield!).

However, to echo what some have hinted at, we have sold honey to people who then exhibited it. The classic was one time we had a great bell heather crop and had thousands of boxes of it to extract, and it was as pure as you could get, so much so that once stabilised as a clear honey it stayed perfectly clear for many years. A well known beekeeper bought a couple of buckets from me straight off the fine filter (just small mesh net and gravity filtration, not anything severe) and jarred it up and exhibited it at a honey show. it won first prize. The same jars were then apparently on the showbench every year for a period estimated at between 8 and 15 years (by his rivals) and regularly won (always I think).

The same guy also bought an utterly perfect comb of heather from me and entered it in the same show. I saw the show later myself and it was by a mile the best comb on the bench. It won nothing except an NAS tag. Reason? It was a ling heather comb and thus not for extracting in the opinion of the judge. How out of date can you get? We had been extracting heather honey for 30 years at that time. He also, on another occasion, showed a deep comb of raspberry honey drawn on virgin foundation, absolutly flat and sealed corner to corner, also obtained from us, and similarly got an NAS. Deep combs are not for extracting apparently. Very perverse.

The final reason never to enter? As a professional you are on a hiding to nothing.

[gavin]

There's a novice class at the Dundee show for those who've never exhibited before. You'd walk that! You might win £3 for a First ....

The idiosyncracies of the judging are what makes it all fun/frustrating/idiotic. I've had more exhibits rejected than accepted for all sorts of technical reasons you never hear about beforehand. Or maybe I wasn't listening. Air under the lid, wrong kind of box for comb, underweight, heather not jelled (yet), you name it.

[Jon]

However, to echo what some have hinted at, we have sold honey to people who then exhibited it.

I know one guy who scours the country looking for perfect sections to enter in the shows.
Anyone entering someone else's honey in a show to win the £3 prize or the kudos needs their head examined imho.