WilliamSlayer
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Available right now at my local Costco in Maryland. Not sure if its any good (never tried it) but it was unusual to see in bulk! Hope someone gets to take advantage. 
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Raw Honey
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WilliamSlayer
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I use raw honey as a rule. I get mine from my wife's father who keeps bees. I prefer it over anything name branded with a big name. As strict rules are about honey purity, it seems there is always some big company getting in trouble by watering down their honey with invert sugar.
lowtones84
Well-Known Member
Yup, and most of it is so filtered that it's actually not even possible to prove that it's even honey. That's cool that costco has it, but I would rather buy local stuff even if it costs a little more. But maybe they do have some local honey, who knows.
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Why does that honey not look raw an unfiltered? I have been researching honey for a few years. (The GF really wants to be a bee keeper and I really like the nutrition from honey and other other bee products.) Now, I think that raw and unfiltered shouldn't be so liquid. Is that correct?
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Huh...specifically to Nature Nates:
http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/2013/ucm358641.htm
Seems there is a bit of history playing loose with their labels when it comes to claims.
http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/2013/ucm358641.htm
Seems there is a bit of history playing loose with their labels when it comes to claims.
"American Bees" now that cracks me up.
Were they Native American or Nationalized? Oh, now that is rich. Not something that I would put on a label.
Trust me, get your honey from a local apiary or as close to the source you can get. The "Unfiltered" comes with it. Notice that they don't mention what varietal the honey is.
Were they Native American or Nationalized? Oh, now that is rich. Not something that I would put on a label.
Trust me, get your honey from a local apiary or as close to the source you can get. The "Unfiltered" comes with it. Notice that they don't mention what varietal the honey is.
Raw unfiltered honey can have a high clarity. Just as with beer, time allows things to clear. The difference being that with honey, most impurities will float to the top and you pour into bottles out from under it. I save the last of the pails with floaty bits for cooking and brewing.
There are some nectar varieties that are more prone to haze and crystallization. One year my honey all crystallized with 3 months, but I also have honey from 2010 that is a little darker with age, but clear as can be. It just depends what the nectar sources were.
I just have "wildflower" honey which is the acceptable labeling for "I have no idea where my bees gathered this stuff". I suspect there are consumers though that assume wildflower honey is from some pristine remote prairie of wildflowers. Heck, honey from a rooftop hive in NYC is also be deemed wildflower honey.
There are some nectar varieties that are more prone to haze and crystallization. One year my honey all crystallized with 3 months, but I also have honey from 2010 that is a little darker with age, but clear as can be. It just depends what the nectar sources were.
I just have "wildflower" honey which is the acceptable labeling for "I have no idea where my bees gathered this stuff". I suspect there are consumers though that assume wildflower honey is from some pristine remote prairie of wildflowers. Heck, honey from a rooftop hive in NYC is also be deemed wildflower honey.
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I have always wondered how bee keepers track those little guys and train them to only gather from a single flower. Do they all have little ankle bands?
I have always wondered how bee keepers track those little guys and train them to only gather from a single flower. Do they all have little ankle bands?
Actually bees have been known to harvest from one source if there is enough around. The "loyalty" to one nectar source is why you get different honey varietals. Many apiaries hire out their bees to pollinate specific crops and put their hives near by. Bees then go after the one plentiful source over others. If there isn't enough of one source then they go for others, Wildflower is the common denominator honey, each hive, even set next to each other can be different. This also leads to why you want to source your honey with as close to an apiary as you can and unfiltered.
You see the way grocery stores make a consistent product is that they filter the many different honey types and combine them. The honey gets heated up and filtered many times until the floral variety is not distinguishable and you get "Honey" which all tastes the same but is very low quality for mead making or any type of brewing. You want the small bits that the bees put in from the specific nectar sources, you want the floral qualities, a lot gets lost. It contributes to the flavor even though the pollen and other items float to the top or settle out in the lees in the end. It contributes the meads nose, character and over all flavor.
Sorry lecture mode ended. Suffice to say, bees are amazing and rather unique.
Matrix
And if ever smell a hive late in the summer, you'll understand why golden rod honey is never seen on the shelves. Man that's funky stinky stuff. I make sure I harvest before that and the sumac, both being best left as bee food for the winters.
When my neighbor's orchard about a quarter mile down the road is in bloom, you can stand directly in front of the hives and watch the foragers come out, take an immediate turn in that direction, and make a beeline towards it. At other times in the summer there clearly isn't a dominant nectar source, so the bees seem to head off in more random directions.
When my neighbor's orchard about a quarter mile down the road is in bloom, you can stand directly in front of the hives and watch the foragers come out, take an immediate turn in that direction, and make a beeline towards it. At other times in the summer there clearly isn't a dominant nectar source, so the bees seem to head off in more random directions.
I love watching honey bees in the summer. They always lead to the cool stuff. I also like trying to identify them. Italian, wild domestic, and so forth.
I hate flying stinging insects more than most people. But I've always loved the bees. Fortunately I live far enough north that I don't have to worry about those Americanized bees. Although, I do threat and worry about Japanese Hornets invading. You really don't understand how much I hate hornets, wasps, and other invasive variations of them. European wasps, any hornet that isn't native, and red colored wasps are on a spring-summer-fall hit-list of must-die species that I kill and let God sort out the good ones. I kill them all with extreme prejudice.
I tolerate the wasps if they don't build their nests near the house and garage, because they prey on caterpillars.
The bald faced hornets likewise except for the fact they chew away the stain or outer layer of my shed and snow fencing for their hive material. I need to re-stain my shed this summer due to it; nearly bare wood on one side. You can hear them scraping or chewing it from a few feet away.
The bald faced hornets likewise except for the fact they chew away the stain or outer layer of my shed and snow fencing for their hive material. I need to re-stain my shed this summer due to it; nearly bare wood on one side. You can hear them scraping or chewing it from a few feet away.
