# Reasonable cost for roadside honey?



## Fallgirl (May 3, 2007)

Up the road here, a 21 oz. jar of blackberry honey is $10.00. I am willing to pay $8.00 for it but not more.
...unless you tell me different.

(edited to add that jars half that size are selling for $5.00)


----------



## goatsareus (Jun 23, 2007)

personally, I would rather support a local honey producer than a grocery store. But to me, I see no difference between spending $8. or $10. for a large jar of honey. But maybe you do.


----------



## Iddee (Sep 25, 2005)

Is that 21 oz. by volune or weight.

16 liquid oz. of honey, "one pint" weighs 24 oz.

I sell mine for 6.00 a pint, 10.00 a quart.


----------



## Hovey Hollow (Apr 25, 2005)

A reasonable price is one that the customer will pay. A lot of work and equipment goes into harvesting honey, and it's not a cheap hobby/profession to get started in. I would rather pay a local beekeeper their worth and support local farmers, than buy honey from China or Argentina.


----------



## sugarbush (Jul 15, 2007)

Buy local......you can go to sams club and buy a gallon of forign adultrated honey for almost nothing, but that get something for nothing mentality is the heart of what is wrong with this country. I sell mine for 2.00 per lb, 60lb min.


----------



## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

I see it ranging from $8 per quart to $15 per quart. As a rule, the closer you get to the hives the cheaper it is, but I think $8 is about the bare minimum. 

What I don't get is the labeling of honey as a specific kind. Clover I can more or less understand since it stays in bloom so long and the bees seem to prefer, but when I see "blackberry honey", or "sunflower honey" I've got to wonder how those beekeepers are instructing their bees on what to gather each day. Mine don't seem to listen to me so much.


----------



## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

We sold our honey for $3.00 a pound untill this year. Fuel cost has increased over a dollar a gallon for us there fore we had to raise our prices to $4.00 a pound. A pint (1 1/2 pounds) is now $6.00, a quart (3 pounds) $12.00. We sell at a discount if you buy 60 pounds or more at a time @ $2.00 a pound.

I'm also with Ernie on the clover and other types of honey labels. Seems like if you look at the clover honey at the store it all verys in color even the same brand. I see the same color differences at the farmers market. Our bees like Ernies have a mind of there own and gather from all types of flowering plants.
Kare even commented the other day that the honey she was bottleing had a minty taste. I took a taste and it sure did. Must have been from the cat mint in the flower garden.

 Al


----------



## jynxt (Apr 5, 2004)

my kids want to know what a person would charge for a "truly unique" honey..... like their purple honey?


----------



## Fallgirl (May 3, 2007)

Iddee, it may have been 24 oz. It was written in ink on the cap so part of the 4 may have worn off, or perhaps I misread it.

I don't buy store honey except once when I purchased a small container at a health food store because it came with the honeycomb and DD was curious to try it. It was expensive but because of the honeycomb, worth it. 

I rarely buy honey otherwise but if I do, I only purchase it from the beekeepers as I had recently. I bought a 21 oz bottle of unlabled honey (out of town) for only $7.00 which was why I was disappointed to see this jar listed for $10.00


----------



## Hovey Hollow (Apr 25, 2005)

Another thought about honey prices varying widely. A larger operation has the cost of their equipment spread out over hundreds or even thousands of hives. A small hobby keeper with just a few hives, has many of the same expenses. (Honey house, extractor, etc.) 
Also, some beekeepers are getting paid by farmers to put hives on their crops. So, that honey may be sorta subsidized by the payment recieved for pollination services. (Those are also the one's who can say that their honey is from a specific crop.)


----------



## dezeeuwgoats (Jan 12, 2006)

Well - in my completely uneducated taste test - I COULD taste a difference. In fact, I am lucky and priviledged enough to have a bee keeper on the next street over.....When his wife asked if I wanted mesquite or alfalfa honey - I must have looked puzzled because she invited me in for a taste......She said most people prefer the alfalfa/citris flower honey for it's lighter taste and that the mesquite was stronger tasting and better for baking......

I liked the mesquite better, and I tend to use a lot of my honey for making granola - so it worked out. There was a big difference in flavor to me. 

They charge twelve dollars for a half gallon, and twenty dollars for a gallon. They must be a fairly large producer, since she told me they sell to the main commercialized honey company in the Valley. They move hives around the state, at least, maybe surrounding states too, I am not sure.

Sincerely;
Niki


----------



## turtlehead (Jul 22, 2005)

At our last beekeeper meeting the subject of pricing came up. Most folks have been charging around $10 per quart and $6 per pint but are going to raise those prices considerably due to the drought this year severely impacting production. I think $12-15 per quart and $7-8 per pint is what most folks thought they were going to be charging.


----------



## rmaster14145 (Mar 14, 2007)

well we got VERY LUCKY  we got OVER 12 qts from one super. this is the lightest honey we have ever seen. it has a wonderful mild taste. we have been selling it at work for $6 a pint and NO ONE has said anything about the price. 

a couple of ppl have told us we need to enter it at the state fair.

like others said support a local keeper. there is alot of work putting the honey up. we got over 12 qts and it took between 3 and 4 hrs ...BOTH of us working. local raw honey is so much better than that bee spit and sugar water you get from wal mart. besides medication for the bees the keeper has the equipment money invested too.... gloves, hats, veils, smokers, hive tools...etc. and if you can afford an extractor the one we were looking at cost over $400.

oh yea me and another keeper put up some of his honey about 5 weeks ago and realized something...you dont get honey that dont have a lil sweat in it :baby04: 

rm


----------



## Fallgirl (May 3, 2007)

I finally broke down and bought the honey. I haven't tried it yet. I'm not much of a honeyt eater but like having it around, just incase. One more question: how long does honey last?


----------



## Iddee (Sep 25, 2005)

Not more than 6 or 8 thousand years.
If it crystallizes, place it in a pan of hot water and it will re liquefy.


----------



## off_da_grid (May 22, 2007)

rmaster14145 said:


> well we got VERY LUCKY
> 
> oh yea me and another keeper put up some of his honey about 5 weeks ago and realized something...you dont get honey that dont have a lil sweat in it :baby04:
> 
> rm


Say what?


----------



## Ed0517 (Aug 28, 2005)

Fallgirl said:


> I finally broke down and bought the honey. I haven't tried it yet. I'm not much of a honeyt eater but like having it around, just incase. One more question: how long does honey last?


I think they've found the stuff in Pharaoh's tombs and it was still edible. It doesn't go bad. And like Iddee said, if it crystalizes, you can reliquify it.


----------



## Fallgirl (May 3, 2007)

Terrific. Thanks.


----------



## rmaster14145 (Mar 14, 2007)

off_da_grid said:


> Say what?



reason i said this is....you harvest honey ( here in western NC ) the first week of july and in september. no with the heat add long pants, long...long sleeved shirt, gloves that go almost up to your elbos, hat, and veil tied off around the neck. by the time you get this protection ON im already sweating. spena a lil time removing the top of the hive smoking bees out of a super, removing a full super and adding a fresh super...YES YOU WILL SWEAT DOWN IN THE SUPER OF HONEY YOU ARE REMOVING!!! therefore i think if you buy honey there is a VERY SMALL amount of sweat in the honey. think thats bad? what do you think is in all the chinese store bought crap?

rm


----------



## Rockin'B (Jan 20, 2006)

I am a repeat customer of a local keeper and buy honey in 2 lb. containers for $7.50 and am happy to do so.

It's really the best I've tasted and I consider it cheap by any measure.


----------



## chichi (Jul 4, 2007)

That is sorta a prersonal choice. If you wont pay more then that is your limit. But you should be comparing the two directly rather than asking strangers the difference. Unless of corse your sending out samples! :>


----------



## rmaster14145 (Mar 14, 2007)

i was eating some of our honey the other day at work and a man ask me " how much do they get for a qt. of honey up your way". i replied " $12 to $15 a qt but i sell mine for $6 a pint". he then told me " well they sell it here for $10 no $8 a quart. i told him " well you should just buy it here then"!!!

if they are not willing to pay $6 a pint we will just leave it on the shelf for us to use later.

rm


----------



## Fallgirl (May 3, 2007)

I opened the honey this morning. It's raspberry honey but it doesn't taste any different than any other honey that I've ever eaten. Should it?


----------

