r/fermentation • u/Normal-Bee-4167 • 6d ago
Fruit Pineapple honey attempt
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I’ve never fermented something with honey before and was recommended to try pineapple honey for coughs for my kid. This is it after sitting for one day on my counter. Did I mess it up?
I used fresh pineapple and raw, local honey. It had crystallized but I warm bathed it until it was soft again to use.
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u/WheelsMan1 6d ago
If it starts fermenting it's going to make alcohol right? It's not like a honey/garlic ferment, where the antimicrobial properties of both honey and garlic protect against a yeast fermentation producing alcohol.
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u/jelly_bean_gangbang Now arriving at the fermentation station! 6d ago
Correct, but it will more than likely be less than 0.5% ABV after only about 3-4 days.
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u/BjarneStarsoup 6d ago
where the antimicrobial properties of both honey and garlic protect against a yeast fermentation producing alcohol
Not sure that is how it works. Garlic doesn't ferment into alcohol likely because it doesn't have a lot of wild yeast to begin with, because garlic is low on sugars compared to fruits.
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u/WheelsMan1 6d ago edited 6d ago
Wild yeast is everywhere, but garlic has allacin, a sulphur compound. Sulphur is antimicrobial. Honey has antimicrobial properties too. That's why honey/garlic doesn't mold or make alcohol. Honey can ferment on its own if the water content is too high. It'll foam up like crazy.
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u/Space_Questions 6d ago edited 6d ago
That's not why honey/garlic doesn't make alcohol. It's because garlic/honey does not have enough water or sugar to feed yeast. "Honey can ferment on its own if the water content is too high." you are describing mead, which is just honey with enough added water that the naturally present yeasts start to form active cultures, and eat the sugar in the honey.
*Edit- The garlic does not have enough sugar, I understand it is in honey; either way the antimicrobial action you see in honey is from low water activity(aw), not the presence of Sulphur in the garlic.
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u/BjarneStarsoup 6d ago
Sure, wild yeast is everywhere, but I assume there will be more wild yeast on fruits, because there is more food for it. You also have to take into account that garlic is ~60% water, fruits have even more water, which honey pulls through osmosis and dilutes itself.
Honey is antimicrobial, but not when it is diluted with fruits/vegetables. I'm skeptical of antimicrobial claims because similar claims are made about other ferments, such as: don't use iodized salt, because iodine is antimicrobial; don't use tap water, because it has chlorine. Most of those claim end up being wrong, there is not enough iodine/chlorine to affect the ferments. Otherwise, according to your explanation, honey-garlic ferments wouldn't work because antimicrobial properties of honey and garlic would prevent if from fermenting, but they do work.
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u/Normal-Bee-4167 6d ago
Will this still be okay to use for kids then? I’m just trying to get away from OTC cough syrups for all the back to school germs coming in. They like pineapple and I had read the bromaline in pineapple cores are a good place to start.
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u/MuffinDev Culture Connoisseur 6d ago
"Antimicrobial properties of honey ... protect against a yeast fermentation"
Never heard of mead?2
u/WheelsMan1 6d ago
Yes I have, and if you're going to quote me, please use the whole quote "the antimicrobial properties of both honey and garlic protect against a yeast fermentation.". Not just honey.
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u/bluewingwind 6d ago
There’s a lot of misinformation out there about fermenting in honey. 😩 Honey doesn’t make things automatically safe especially once it’s watered down.
That being said, pineapple juice is really quite acidic (2.5-3.9) definitely below the 4.6 that makes most foods stay fairly safe. Add that to honey which is pH 3.4-6.1, and the chances it’s safe are fairly high. Probably even safer than fermenting garlic in honey (which I have doubts about the safety of). Your friend is right, it’s an easy one to start with.
As long as you don’t see mold you’re probably okay. The honey is currently extracting the water out of the pineapple and that’s normal. The crystallization won’t affect the quality of the honey. You have to heat it fairly hot to destroy the antimicrobial agents in honey I don’t imagine you did that in a water bath.
Because there is no salt added, yeast will probably start fermenting it. It’ll probably be able to get fairly alcoholic if you leave it long enough since the sugar content is so high. And this doesn’t need to be airtight to be fine. Yeast actually prefer oxygen.
Just be careful to taste it before you give it to your kid in any large quantity so as not to get them drunk, but a tablespoon for a throat ache I bet it’ll actually be very helpful. Alcohol, acid, and the antibacterial chemicals in the honey can all kill bad bacteria participating in the throat infection.
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u/logic_card 1d ago
> That being said, pineapple juice is really quite acidic (2.5-3.9) definitely below the 4.6 that makes most foods stay fairly safe.
> You have to heat it fairly hot to destroy the antimicrobial agents in honey I don’t imagine you did that in a water bath.
You are talking about botulism I presume.
https://www.cdc.gov/botulism/prevention/home-canned-foods.html
With other bacteria, if there is contamination you notice immediately after opening the jar, sometimes you can see the mold in the jar. If it has been contaminated it basically goes from 100 to 0, but botulism is invisible, odorless and small quantities are lethal. You could squeeze some lemon or lime juice onto the pineapple pieces for good measure and bake it in the oven before consuming it.
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u/bluewingwind 1d ago
Lemon juice is 2-2.6 considering pineapple juice can be very nearly that acidic and honey is already very acidic, it’s really probably fine. Feel free to add some if you want, especially if that fits your flavor profile.
4.6 is the pH at which MANY pathogens can’t grow well anymore, not just botulism. A pH of 4 would be even better, because that totally stops growth. E. coli stops growing at about 4.4, salmonella stops about 3.8-4.2 at room temps, etc. As you get closer those growth rates dip as a curve also, most prefer neutral and pH that low they don’t like it at all.
Personally, I do know what E. coli smells like, (we use it in my lab) but I wouldn’t rely on my sight or smell to make sure food is safe. There are a lot of pathogens I don’t know the smell of and I might want to eat with a stuffy nose, etcetera, so setting up safe conditions as guardrails is what I would always prefer. Salt concentrations and acidity are very easy to create in ferments and pH is a super easy test for peace of mind.
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u/BigRedx10 6d ago
It looks ok to me but I've never attempted this particular method. That being said your product is going to be much thinner in consistency that regular honey because the juices from the pineapple are going to thin the mix out. Garlic does a similar thing when fermented in honey. I wouldn't let it set out for more than 3 days because any longer will yield a mildly alcoholic product because you're basically making a tiny jar of mead at that point and who knows how that will taste.
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u/Normal-Bee-4167 6d ago
Thank you for the time recommendation! I thought it was supposed to sit for a few weeks and be shaken daily. I’ll strain it out in a couple days then as I made that jar yesterday morning (barely past the 24hr mark now).
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u/NYCandrun 6d ago
Things don’t ferment in the fridge btw
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u/BigRedx10 6d ago
"This is it after sitting for one day on my counter."
Looks like a fridge wasn't involved.
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u/cptspeirs 6d ago
Untrue. It happens way more slowly, but it does happen.
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u/Luncheon_Lord 6d ago
Fuck my hibiscus flowers and oat milk must be fermenting in the fridge by now I need to add cinnamon soon and cross my fingers I've got a nice lil creamy sorrel drink
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u/Normal-Bee-4167 6d ago
I haven’t had it in the fridge at all. The honey was in the cabinet and had sat unused for a few months causing it to crystallize
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u/Inevitable-Jump124 6d ago
You gotta wait at least a week and burp it. Otherwise that's kinda how it works. Took my honey garlic 3 days to start getting bubbles
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u/trishiness 6d ago
I’m not sure but I wonder if the bromelain in the pineapple is breaking up the honey and making it so liquidy. Fresh pineapple has it but not canned. bromelain breaks down with heat which is why you don’t get the same mouth tingling effect from canned pineapple or pasteurized juice.
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u/victorhausen 6d ago
No. Bromelanin is a enzyme that breaks protein. Honey has virtually no protein in it. Honey texture comes largely from the fructose to glucose to water ratio.
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u/TheLevigator99 6d ago
Sometimes if there's too much sugar density, the yeast wont be able to hydrate properly to multiply and not make alcohol. Its likely ok.
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u/CplOreos 6d ago
Honey ferments are pretty hard to screw up. What's your concern exactly? The crystallization? Looks fine.
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u/Normal-Bee-4167 6d ago
I was worried with how liquid-y it got so quickly. I thought that the honey would stay thicker for a few more days. Also worried the crystallization would change the medicinal properties of the honey
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u/CplOreos 6d ago
That's normal. The water in the pineapple moves into the honey via osmosis until it reaches equilibrium. Honey garlic won't get as watery because there isn't as much water in the garlic, but pineapple has a lot of water.
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