Novice Entries by Simon Gniadkowski

Warwickshire County Honey Show – A novice is defined as an entrant that hasn’t previously won a first prize at the county show, having never entered the county show I was classed as a novice. The novice classes were;  A cake of wax, A frame for extraction/cut comb, Mead (sweet or dry), Light honey, Dark or Medium honey, Crystalised/soft set honey.

One unusual thing about the novice classes was that entrants were invited to view the judging of these classes as it happened. There was opportunity to ask questions during the session and ample opportunity to learn exactly what the judges are typically looking for, it was a huge learning opportunity, if you get the chance to do this next year please take the opportunity.

So what did I learn ?

Honey: use good quality jars that are clean inside and out, when staging use cotton gloves to avoid fingerprints, use the best lids you have or buy new, don’t use anything with a dent, rust, scratch, etc., filter at 500 micron or even better 200 micron to keep bits out of the honey. Prepare early so air bubbles have time to rise to the surface, they can be removed with cling film.  Try to avoid opening jars close to the show, this lets the aroma escape.  Apply your class and ID label carefully noting the position information in the schedule, try to position the label so the jar mould lines are at 3 and 9 o’clock positions with the label at 6 o’clock.

Set honey in particular – it needs to be set, not runny, when the jar is on it’s side, it must be well filtered so it’s clean.

Don’t enter more than one entry, even though it’s permitted, pick your best and enter that one. If you enter more than one entry all but one will be excluded without the jar even being opened.

Frame for Extraction: show the frame some love, clean off as much of the propolis as you can, a hive tool or other scraper type tool is effective. Pick your best frame with the cleanest most level cappings.  Choose a frame that is proud of the top bar so it will be easy to uncap with a knife. Hold the frame up to a strong light source, you don’t want to see any crystallisation or pollen.

Cake of Wax:  read the schedule carefully, some not only have minimum weights some have maximum weights. Use your best, freshest wax, usually your cappings.  Wax shrinks when it cools, if you mark your mould using the equivalent weight of water your cake will be light, add 10% to the weight you need and mark that volume of water on your mould.  You can polish the cake when it is fully set but keep this to a minimum, the judges will notice if a cake has been over polished.

Mead:  the judges will twist the bottle quickly while vertical to get any sediment to rise up off the bottom of the bottle, there is no hiding any sediment so be careful when bottling, for the show use the first few bottles to avoid sediment. The judges will swirl the mead in the glass to check the “legs”, this is a favourable trait and describes the way the mead runs back down the sides of the glass.

If you are a Novice and reading this, please, please consider entering the County show in 2025, it’s high time we took the trophy back from Birmingham !

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