# Making "Yen's Blend"



## OGIGA (Sep 19, 2007)

I had some honey powder and yesterday I finally got some bee pollen. Last night, I tried grinding the two ingredients and found it amazingly difficult. The mortar and pestle I used is a small one from Ikea.

When I grind the honey crystals, the honey starts collecting onto the mortar and the pestle like it's solid. After I'm done, I probably have half of what I started stuck to the mortar and pestle. Where there's so much stuck to the mortar and pestle, I can't really grind anything.

The bee pollen grinds a lot better, but it's still difficult. I can grind most of the pollen but when I'm left with the darker/harder pollen particles, I have the same problem as with the honey crystals.

Do you guys who make this stuff have the same problems? How do you grind it?


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## rbaby (Sep 19, 2007)

Try a spice/coffee grinder...I think that might work well.


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## Sparky (Sep 19, 2007)

When I need to grind something up I place it on a flat surface and use some sort of heavy flat object to press down and grind it.


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## Rick (Sep 19, 2007)

> When I need to grind something up I place it on a flat surface and use some sort of heavy flat object to press down and grind it.


That is basically what the thing he uses does. Use a coffee grinder.


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## OGIGA (Sep 19, 2007)

> Try a spice/coffee grinder...I think that might work well.


Sounds like a good idea. Nick? Yen? How do you guys do it?


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## Precious (Sep 19, 2007)

Just buy Yen's.


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## rbaby (Sep 19, 2007)

If you use the grinder, make sure you burst it--and not leave it continuously grinding...otherwise you're gonna end up with paste with the added friction of a constantly rotating blade inside...so just burst the grinder til it's the consistency you want.


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## yen_saw (Sep 20, 2007)

I was using a very primitive way in the beginning. Place the pollen/honey pellets in a bag, then use hammer to crush it to powder.

Now i use this







Please note that i nether producing nor selling "Yen's blend", and i do not profit from that product. I know Nick makes his in mass quantity.


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## OGIGA (Sep 20, 2007)

Thanks Yen. Do you get any of the same problems that I experience?


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## yen_saw (Sep 20, 2007)

Well it is still a primitive method i know. If you crushed them separately, honey will "crystalize" at the bottom and turn solid. I mixed both together in the mortor before pestling the mixture. you need to stir the mixture once a while when pestling it to avoid mixture settling at the bottom of mortar. I keep the honey/pollen pellets in the fridge so they are dry, that also help preventing mixture turning sticky.


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## OGIGA (Sep 20, 2007)

Awesome. I'm going to put my ingredients in the refrigerator now and mix them before pestling. Thanks again, Yen.  

Hmm, maybe I'll also look for a packet of silica gel or something similar and put it inside the container.


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## Nick Barta (Sep 24, 2007)

Michael,

I have found that an expensive food processor works best. I burned up a smaller one learning how to do this. The suggestion of "Burst Grinding" is really the trick. You have to not only burst the mixture, but also shake and tip the unit, or the solids gather in one ring, and the powder gathers in another level. It took me two batches to get good results, one dead food processor, and a wife who allowed me to buy her a new small blender!

You have to just keep working with it until you get the texture you want. It will never be ALL light fluffy powder, you will have some pollen and honey crystals that remain unbroken. If you want to do small amounts with the morter and pestle, the one on our web site is the right one to use. It is not too small or too large. In fact it is the same one Yen has pictured, made of marble.

CHEERS!

Nick Barta

Mantisplace.com


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## Kris (Sep 28, 2007)

I'm with ya, Nick--let's hear it for expensive food processors and blenders!  I do a lot of sculpture with handmade paper pulp, which also takes its toll on blenders/processors. (It's a glue/sand/plaster mix in the end.)

After demolishing four (!) blenders, I bit the bullet and resorted to using my KitchenAid to get the job done, and I'm a happy woman. (But I can't seem to figure out why my friends won't drink my frozen margaritas now...LOL)

Cheers

Kris


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## Nick Barta (Sep 28, 2007)

Kris,

Your Margarita comment made me remember that after I had covered the kitchen in bee pollen and crystallized honey, that my daughter is allergic to bee stings, so, just in case pollen and honey could trigger a reaction..... I had the "opportunity to REALLY clean the blender and the counters. I guess it could have been bad if she swelled up like a blowfish and died.....


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## hibiscusmile (Sep 29, 2007)

Yea and guess who would be nexT!!! :blink: :lol:


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## Red (Oct 5, 2007)

i can't find Honey powder in spain... do you know how is it, about the components or other names?

regards


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