My honey is being criticised as too runny. It's the bees people, and the nectar, not me. Slave bees thicken nectar by fanning it, for weeks, drying it back, lest it ferment, and perhaps foment bee revolution ...before finally capping it with wax and laying it in for maturation.

It must thicken more as it matures, sealed in its little hexagonal cells, but the books don't say. Beekepers friend tells of an old box his father found; been in the hive for 20 years at least, maybe more, and never breached.

Because bees lay in honey for the winter you see, but we don't really have those here. Sure, a bit gets eaten, but if the hive is well, not a lot. Anyways, the frames in this box from a cranky old hive were near-on black, forgotten, dangerous.

And when they spun it out, the honey was thick like treacle, near as dark, and tasted beyond intense. So he gave me a little to try ...and I like runny honey.

Still.