A honey moat keeps the ants away from the honey jar! We eat very little sugar. We even use honey in our coffee in place of sugar. It's quite hard not to attract ants when you use honey as much as we do. Not liking honey that comes directly from the refrigerator, it dawned on me one day to place the jar of honey in a bowl of water.
Walla! It works great! Ants can't swim. If they try, they do the "back stroke" then sink to the bottom of the bowl. Most don't even try! Replace the water in the bowl often.
Placing the lid on the quart jar, then running warm soapy water over the jar also helps to keep the honey clean. We place our coffee cup up against the water bowl "moat" so any drizzle of honey that is dripping from the spoon will go into the moat as well.
Cold honey is harder to work with, not to mention the fact you use more as it ends up a heaping spoon full when used cold, directly from the quart jar. Honey is expensive so using it wisely helps offset the cost. Eat more honey. It's so good and good for you!
A beekeeper recently told me to keep jar honey in the freezer. He said to take out what you will be using and then put the rest in the freezer. Due to not having any water content, the honey won't freeze. It also keeps it from crystalizing.
Beware of bridges to "over troubled water" honey jar! Accidently a large, very thin square sponge, used to wipe counters, ended up partially resting aginst a quart of honey, placed in a moat. Even though the honey jar lid was on tightly, "wishful thinking," ants were all over the jar. A handle to a coffee cup can enable a bridge to the honey jar, even if the handle is bearly touching the jar. The answer is to place your moat with honey jar in a place that has less activity, possibly a kitchen counter that is rarely used for everyday activity. Ant's are so silent. You turn around and there they are. As hard as you try to prevent them, they have it figured out how to get to where they want to go. It kind of makes me wonder, who's out-smarting who!
suzyspinkmoon, just a quick question: What wrong with corn syrup? I know if you want honey, you want HONEY but what's wrong with corn syrup?
Editor's Note: There are many studies on the health risks of high fructose corn syrup and many experts believe it is one of the main contributors to the obesity problem in the U.S. Here is a link from the Mayo Clinic talking about it:
Recently someone told me that a store in our little town is not selling honey anymore as the supplier was mixing honey with corn syrup, to sell. Has anyone heard anything about this? Personally I find that quite upsetting as I try hard not to buy any products that contain a lot of corn syrup. Why is it, people find the need to mess with things?
Just a tidbit - that honey is very good for you - it is important you buy locally grown honey (or honey made as close to your town as possible). This is because the bees that pollinate the honey are utiilzing the very pollen you breathe in YOUR climate -
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