Forum: lifehacks.stackexchange.com
Tags: <food><pest-control>
Title: Remove ants from honey
Question: I have this bottle of very good honey. I was not able to use more than a few teaspoonfuls in the past few days. Today when I opened the bottle I see small ants have entered the bottle and floating in the honey (and are dead). How to remove these ants and consume honey?

Answers:
sents: text: Warm the honey to make it less viscous (you may even need to add a little water), then pour through a fine strainer or cheesecloth.
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/6487/Debbie M.
score: 5
sents: text: How to remove these ants and consume honey?
text: I'll answer the first part first.
text: If there are only a few (less than a dozen or so), in the jar, you can use a long, pointy object, like a chopstick, and push the ants one by one to the edge and work them to the surface, where they can be picked out.
text: If your honey has so many ants in it that you cannot easily remove them all, consider giving up on that bit.
text: In the summer you could put it outside and let bees take it back.
text: To consume honey, place small amount in mouth, mix with saliva, and swallow.
text: (just kidding xD)
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/25/J. Musser
score: 3
sents: text: Slowly sink a drinking straw into the honey, aiming for an ant.
text: The ant should be smaller than the straw and should wind up inside of it.
text: Plug the open end (at the top) with your thumb, and quickly lift the straw out of the honey.
text: You can then blow on the clean open end to eject the honey-plus-ant into the trash or sink.
text: Repeat for each ant.
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/4198/BrettFromLA
score: 2
sents: text: Simply take a spoon and scoop them out bit by bit.
text: They will be on the top and close to one edge since they can't negotiate very far in the goo.
text: Rinse and dry the spoon after each scoop to clean it.
text: Did it yesterday to a seven pound plastic pail full of honey.
text: There were some honey worshipers gathered at the edge of the lid where I was sloppy pouring some last time I used the container.
text: Put the lid on securely to avoid the problem.
text: Rinse off the container to discourage the critters in the future.
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/4698/Stan
score: 2
sents: text: Removing ants from honey: Bought a brand new bottle of honey, used it once and somehow the cap did not close well.
text: Next day a black layer of ants on the top.
text: Problem was, it was the plastic "pouring type" bottle, so very narrow at the top, while most of the ants were in the wider part of the neck.
text: I switched on my gas hob, held a sharp knife in the flame for a few seconds and sliced off the neck of the bottle.
text: All the ants were dead and right at the top.
text: With a strong back light, I was able to remove every single ant with a spoon, not losing much honey in the process.
text: Poured it into a tight fitting glass jar.
text: No need to throw away the honey or "eat" the ants as suggested!
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/24672/Marlena de Villiers
score: 1
sents: text: How about a honey siphon with irrigation hose?!
text: Put some grapefruit extract around the pipe to prevent ants from migrating.
text: It’s a slow flow but it works.
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/27647/Michael Cobb
score: 1
sents: text: What I do is this : freeze honey.
text: Remove honey and put in the middle of a bowl of water.
text: Scoop a teaspoon of honey in mug.
text: Add tea and hot water.
text: Ants will float to the top.
text: I scoop out ants using spoon and discard them in the sink.
text: The rest is good to go.
answer_details: author: lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/30161/Ambrose L
score: 0

Summary of the answers:
There are a number of things you could try to remove the ants, and one effective way might be to heat the honey to make it less viscous and then pour it through a fine strainer. Alternatively, you could use a straw, a spoon or a chopstick to simply remove them one by one.
The options are to warm and strain the honey, use long objects such as a chopstick or a straw to remove the flies, just use a spoon (as they are sure to be close to the surface) or put the honey in mugs of tea and take off the ants as they float to the surface.