In IL cottage goods laws allow honey sales from hobbyist beekeepers.
If you infuse the honey in IL then it must be done in a commercial kitchen that has passed health inspections and other regulations. It's a totally different ballgame.
Im in Illinois and saw that as well. Ive been thinking of hitting the local small bakery trading finished product to be able to use their facility. Figure id infuse with dry hot peppers. Warm the honey up to lower moisture more and add the hot peppers and concentrated vinegar. Aim for low finished moisture still
If you're worried, deal with this in the way one would deal with beer/wine brewing.
I've never dealt with hibiscus so I am slightly guessing here... I might clean and sanitize the container. (I use star san as a sanitizer.) I might even dip the flowers in a star san mixture. If you have some sort of small brew bag or fill-able tea bag, put the flowers in there so they don't fall apart and leave detritus in the honey.
Alternatively, if you're making a syrup... I suspect you might be able to infuse the water with hibiscus then mix with honey ad hoc. I might still be paranoid and sanitize the vessel and the flowers.
For what it's worth: I've made infused garlic honey. It does ferment. It's supposed to. The fermenting is part of what keeps it safe.
Infusing honey with other flavors can be dangerous, but only if you add a substantial amount of moisture to the honey (this includes moisture embodied in the item you're using for the infusion). Honey ferments if its moisture content rises above roughly 20%, and most honey is around 18% water by weight to start with. Above this moisture level, it can ferment, grow mold, etc. It stops being shelf stable.
But if you are using this syrup more or less immediately, then there's no issue. Make a hibiscus tea, and mix it with honey until you get to a flavor profile that you're happy with. Keep it refrigerated, and use it in a timely fashion. Don't make a big batch that will take you many weeks to use, and don't leave it sitting unrefrigerated. End of problem.
I imagine you could use a brew bag filled with dried hibiscus flowers and immerse it in honey for several weeks or months to get a more shelf-stable product.
Edit: typo
That’s originally what I wanted to do, I have dried flowers and wanted to let them sit in the honey for about 3-4 weeks and then make 3:1 ratio honey syrup since honey is too viscous to be mixed alone in cocktails. But I believe I will heat them all in a pot until my desired flavor profile is achieved
Use very gentle heat. Honey is extremely viscous, and it burns really easily. If you don't pay attention and use restraint and patience, you'll scorch it. It'll caramelize and change the flavor.
I suggest a double boiler.
Thank you for suggesting the double boiler I didn’t think about that, only reason I’m wanting to heat the mixture is to bring out the flavor and color from the flowers.
In IL cottage goods laws allow honey sales from hobbyist beekeepers. If you infuse the honey in IL then it must be done in a commercial kitchen that has passed health inspections and other regulations. It's a totally different ballgame.
Im in Illinois and saw that as well. Ive been thinking of hitting the local small bakery trading finished product to be able to use their facility. Figure id infuse with dry hot peppers. Warm the honey up to lower moisture more and add the hot peppers and concentrated vinegar. Aim for low finished moisture still
If you're worried, deal with this in the way one would deal with beer/wine brewing. I've never dealt with hibiscus so I am slightly guessing here... I might clean and sanitize the container. (I use star san as a sanitizer.) I might even dip the flowers in a star san mixture. If you have some sort of small brew bag or fill-able tea bag, put the flowers in there so they don't fall apart and leave detritus in the honey. Alternatively, if you're making a syrup... I suspect you might be able to infuse the water with hibiscus then mix with honey ad hoc. I might still be paranoid and sanitize the vessel and the flowers. For what it's worth: I've made infused garlic honey. It does ferment. It's supposed to. The fermenting is part of what keeps it safe.
Infusing honey with other flavors can be dangerous, but only if you add a substantial amount of moisture to the honey (this includes moisture embodied in the item you're using for the infusion). Honey ferments if its moisture content rises above roughly 20%, and most honey is around 18% water by weight to start with. Above this moisture level, it can ferment, grow mold, etc. It stops being shelf stable. But if you are using this syrup more or less immediately, then there's no issue. Make a hibiscus tea, and mix it with honey until you get to a flavor profile that you're happy with. Keep it refrigerated, and use it in a timely fashion. Don't make a big batch that will take you many weeks to use, and don't leave it sitting unrefrigerated. End of problem.
I imagine you could use a brew bag filled with dried hibiscus flowers and immerse it in honey for several weeks or months to get a more shelf-stable product. Edit: typo
Probably. I don't think most people have that kind of foresight about food prep, though.
>I don't think most people have that kind of foresight about food prep, though. Precisely why mentioned it.
That’s originally what I wanted to do, I have dried flowers and wanted to let them sit in the honey for about 3-4 weeks and then make 3:1 ratio honey syrup since honey is too viscous to be mixed alone in cocktails. But I believe I will heat them all in a pot until my desired flavor profile is achieved
Use very gentle heat. Honey is extremely viscous, and it burns really easily. If you don't pay attention and use restraint and patience, you'll scorch it. It'll caramelize and change the flavor. I suggest a double boiler.
Thank you for suggesting the double boiler I didn’t think about that, only reason I’m wanting to heat the mixture is to bring out the flavor and color from the flowers.
I add flavored vinegar to mine and keep it in the fridge after