where do buy honey?

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tom_gamer

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I live in Houston and have some trouble with my honey, mostly it is too expensive. Does anyone know where to buy mead quality honey that's inexpensive?
 
See if you have a rep from the Texas Honey Bee Guild. I also bought some from a place in California called Pacifica Honey (poss misspelled).

Usually Whole Foods has raw honey as well. And Mid west supplies has a Minnesota honey they brag about as well.

Its all expensive.
 
What's expensive? I've ordered a gallon (12lbs) of honey from Sleeping Bear farms for $44 (about $55 with shipping) and $60 for a gallon of Tupelo fom eBeeHoney (over $70 with shipping).

I guess you could try a local farmers market? At least then you don't have to pay shipping.
 
I get those prices around here too. I was kind of going for like under $2/lbs

You just need so much for mead lol
 
I just bought frpm a small local keeper. 24# for $51.50 or $2.15 a lb. I talked to the guy at a small local winery & he buys 5 gal pails (60 lbs) for $1.80 but he wouldn't reveal his source as he buys her out every year.

Moral of the story....find locally produced and buy in largest container you can handle. I also buy unheated/unprocessed honey. Crystallized honey ferments just fine.
 
Check out the Dutch Gold website dutchgoldhoney.com, I buy 60# buckets and they work out to be around $2.30 a pound including shipping, they have smaller and larger quantities, their orange blossom is amazing
 
Your best bet is to buy directly from apiaries. A quick search in your area might work. Another thing to search is for Bee keeping clubs in your area, that might bring to light who has fresh honey. I'll admit, I rarely get less than $2.50/lb.

Matrix
 
I guess my under $2 was unrealistic, I'll admit that. If I can get awesome honey for under $3 then I'll be happy. I pay over $3 right now for cheap quality honey.

Thanks for the advice.
 
If you have a Rare Fruit Growers chapter in your area there may be a hobbyist beekeeper who uses personal bees for their trees, who might be willing to deal better than a commercial beekeeper.
 
I typically go to a local country market, like a bulk grains store. Typically a local keeper will be selling there. I think right under $3.00 is about right.
 
The cheapest I have seen in Houston is defalcos at 2.99/lb. I have not been to many of the farmers markets yet though or looked for large quantities.
 
EndlessPurple said:
The cheapest I have seen in Houston is defalcos at 2.99/lb. I have not been to many of the farmers markets yet though or looked for large quantities.

I'll go rays in the woodlands over defalcos, but thats just a personal thing. I did some Google searches and found something ob stuebner that I will check out in next few weeks. I'll report back if its legit.
 
You guys are lucky. Finding honey for a decent price is damn impossible down here. I found some place down in Homestead willing to sell a 12lb (gallon jug) amount for $30 but they want $20 for shipping. Another place from Jupiter that wants $30 for 6lb jugs at the local farmers market.
 
Check out the Dutch Gold website dutchgoldhoney.com, I buy 60# buckets and they work out to be around $2.30 a pound including shipping, they have smaller and larger quantities, their orange blossom is amazing
This. Dutch Gold has a handful of varieties (incl. orange, clover, wildflower, buckwheat) you can get in 5-gal buckets. They're about $145 after shipping.
 
Is the Dutch Gold honey raw? They say nothing is added, but I didn't see anywhere on their site where it mentions whether the honey is raw.

I've had good luck with the honey from hsffarms and Bee Folks, but yeah, expensive. Plus the local post office is kind of weird about not delivering things that weigh more than about 20 lbs, so it has to come by UPS.
 
I hope this doesn't come across as too dumb of a question, but whats the difference between raw and not raw honey?
 
Processed honey is filtered and pasteurized, and I believe they add stabilizers to prevent it from crystalizing in the jar.

'Raw' honey is straight from the honeycomb. They spin it out with a centrifuge and it goes right into the bucket for sale.
 
I need to check farmers' markets for something local to me, otherwise the best I have been able do so far is this raw+unfiltered one from amazon:
http://camelcamelcamel.com/Ambrosia-Colorados-Western-16-Ounce-Bottles/product/B001EO616S

if you do the subscribe+save discount (ships by usps not ups, takes a bit longer), with free shipping it comes to $3.52/lb ($14.11 for 4x1lb). they also sell it in 4x23oz containers which in the past were an even better deal apparently, but now is about $4.21/lb even with the 15% discount - http://camelcamelcamel.com/Ambrosia-Colorados-Western-23-Ounce-Bottles/product/B001EO617M )
 
There are clubs, like Costco, sometimes in store I can get grade A honey, like clover, (not just wild-flower) 5 lbs for about $9... $2@ pound.

My local supermarket sells it for 3.33 pier lb and I see it in the on-line brew stores for 6lbs@20
 
ReDim said:
There are clubs, like Costco, sometimes in store I can get grade A honey, like clover, (not just wild-flower) 5 lbs for about $9... $2@ pound.

My local supermarket sells it for 3.33 pier lb and I see it in the on-line brew stores for 6lbs@20

I was at Costco yesterday and they had clover honey at $12.99 for 5 lbs. Still seemed like a good price
 
raw honey just means not pasteurized, it may or may not be filtered.

if you dont filter you end up with bits of capping beeswax and pollen and possibly bits of (casulty )bees, most people filter
 
found some interestng reading when googled honey check out - google tainted chinese honey in the us
 
found some interestng reading when googled honey check out - google tainted chinese honey in the us

I know, that scares the ****e out of me - not just for the possible heavy metals or antibiotics, but also for the fact it may not even be honey. and what could potentially being sold labelled made in the usa but really from external sources.

about 10 years ago I used to buy "honey" in these beautiful glasses -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/slice/5363035402/
- mostly to have the neat glasses afterwards. it wasn't the greatest honey, and in recent years the lablelling on the glass has changed to "honey syrup" or "honey product" etc. illustrating exactly what was (or wasn't) in there...
 
Idk if your willing to drive the half hour or so but theres a local apiary near Santa Fe/Alvin (out towards Dickinson) that I buy my honey from. Local wildflower. Cost me about $24 a gallon. I have the info if you'd like it.
 
janitorjerm said:
Idk if your willing to drive the half hour or so but theres a local apiary near Santa Fe/Alvin (out towards Dickinson) that I buy my honey from. Local wildflower. Cost me about $24 a gallon. I have the info if you'd like it.

That sound more than 1/2 hour drive but ok.
 
I was at Costco yesterday and they had clover honey at $12.99 for 5 lbs. Still seemed like a good price

THIS. I get it for 11$-12$ here in MD for 5lbs. I hate when honey is super clear but I just deal with it. Saving up for a 60lb pail from dutch gold, like the idea of their wildflower honey from Brazil.
 
THIS. I get it for 11$-12$ here in MD for 5lbs. I hate when honey is super clear but I just deal with it. Saving up for a 60lb pail from dutch gold, like the idea of their wildflower honey from Brazil.

I've never tried their wildflower honey but the orange blossom tastes amazing, Ive been putting a pretty decent dent of a 60# bucket I got awhile ago
 
I was at Costco yesterday and they had clover honey at $12.99 for 5 lbs. Still seemed like a good price

Have any of you guys used the Costco honey in a batch? Did it turn out ok? Seems that all the local honey distributors out here charge about the same amount for Honey, $48/12lbs (1 gallon). Also all of the local honey guys just mix the honey, they are not single sourced (clover, orange, etc).

So I figured if I'm going to be experimenting with mead I might as well use the cheap stuff first and then when I get a handle on it spend $$$ for the raw local honey.
 
knotquiteawake said:
Have any of you guys used the Costco honey in a batch? Did it turn out ok? Seems that all the local honey distributors out here charge about the same amount for Honey, $48/12lbs (1 gallon). Also all of the local honey guys just mix the honey, they are not single sourced (clover, orange, etc).

So I figured if I'm going to be experimenting with mead I might as well use the cheap stuff first and then when I get a handle on it spend $$$ for the raw local honey.

I have not. I got a decent stock pile of mead right now so Im staying with beer (its a lot cheaper to brew and take a lot less time). I will definitely buy some next time around. So worst case you'll have to wait a few month.
 
I've used Costco honey. It makes decent mead. If you think you're going to be making a lot of mead it might be worth your while to just buy a 5-gallon bucket from Dutch Gold; the price per lb is even lower than the Costco stuff.
 
Yeah, in looking at the pricing it seems that my local honey suppliers can't compete. At the 1 gallon rate its just over $4/lb ($49 for 12lbs plus tax plus shipping). At the 5 gallon rate its $3.16lb ($175 for 60 lbs plus tax, free shipping). Buying from Dutch Gold it looks like after shipping I would only be paying 2.76/lb. I doubt Costco is going to be able to beat that. Which then also puts the price of a 5 gallon batch (assuming 12lbs of honey in a batch like the blueberry mead I want to make takes) at $33 instead of $50. So I'm saving money right? Wife can't argue with SAVING money. Heck, $33 is cheaper than most batches of partial mash beers I've made in the past.



Looks like I'd have to wait until next paycheck though. Just got our first water/trash/sewage bill... $214. Ouch. All kinds of extra fees for the initial deposit and hookups for moving into the house where everything was off. Lamesauce. Still better than liviing in a crappy apartment though.
 
I ended up hitting up Costco lastnight. 5lbs of honey was $12.65 each so I picked up 3 bottles and now I have enough to make my first batch of mead. Depending on how it goes I'll save up to buy a 5 gallon bucket for next time.
 
In most cases the Dutch Gold honey is very good, I've recently finished off a 5gal pail of their orange blossom it tasted great on its own and I've been very happy with the mead I've made with it.

That being said, if you have a local bee keeper that has an amazing single source varietal, even at the higher cost its worth it if you want to make nice show or traditional that is going to highlight the honey itself.

Buying bulk wildflower or clover and even orange blossom is great for melomels and metheglins, but if you have the opportunity to get ahold of a local raw honey of any kind it's worth it no matter the variety even if you only get enough for a 1 gallon batch.
 
Find a local apiary and inquire as to their bulk honey prices. Most will be glad to sell you any amount you want esp if you bring your own container.
 
Might as well dbl post this
I got some orange blossom honey from Smitty Bee and really liked it. I think it's out of season now. Here's a link for their Wildflower Honey. With shipping it's a little over $3.30 a lb for the 30lb bucket.
http://www.smittybeehoney.com/secure-smittybeehoney/Scripts/prodView.asp?idProduct=164
I know plenty of people that use Dutch Gold as well. So shop around and figure out what you like best.
 
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