I've been using this method very successfully for the last 2 years with great yields of E and very good quality and quantity of honey.
In my part of the US there is a grocery store whose name starts with a great big red "S", that is a 'safe' place to start. You can buy 3 boxes of 96 ct "red hots" that is the store brand generic for pennies under $30. This yelds 7.5 g of clean 'E' in under an hour.
1. put all of your reds into a half liter pop bottle, fill the bottle halfway with cold h2o, put the cap on and shake vigorously until the h2o is very red, pour off very carefully not to lose any of the gems, repeat until almost all of the red coloring is removed from the hots, about 3-4 times with very cold water.
2. Now you want to fill the bottle 3/4 of the way up with very hot water from the tap, squeeze the bottle until the liquid is up to the neck, cap it tightly, put in microwave on it's side and heat on high until the bottle starts to expand to it's normal shape. This heats the 'E' in the hots and allows it to be absorbed into the water.
3. Take the bottle out of the microwave and shake vigorously for 30 seconds, careful the bottle will be very hot, take the cap off and let stand for 1-2 minutes for the sediment to settle to the bottom of the bottle, I've used a clothes washer with the bottle wired to the center on spin mode to simulate a centrifuge to force the sediment to the bottom of the bottle. Put a cottonball in the bottom of a funnel and pour the liquid carefully into the funnel in to whatever you are going to use to evap the water. To be sure you get all the E out of the hots, you can add a little more hot water in the bottle, shake, and let settle, then pour through cotton.
3. Evap liquid until crystals are extremely dry, put all crystals in double layered coffee filters, pour acetone over crystals to get out any unwanted materials.
4. At this point, you have very clean 'E', you can test by putting a small amount on a piece of Tin Foil and heating with a lighter, smell the smoke and when 'E' is gone, you'll see very little or no residue from contaminents.
Proceed with your favorite rxn :=)
