# Raw honey?



## christie (May 10, 2008)

What is raw honey that I have been seeing in stores? It says that it has n't been processed. And it is more solid, and white.
I watched a bee keeper collect honey and he cut the comb, put it in a centrifuge like thing, and out poured the honey, and it was great, and golden!
So whats the deal w/ raw honey? I thought it was all raw!!


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## no1cowboy (May 2, 2004)

"Raw honey" is what you saw come from the exractor (centrifuge like thing) It means its not "pasteurized". When honey is pasteurized it stays liquid like in them squeeze bottels.


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## Batt (Sep 8, 2006)

christie said:


> And it is more solid, and white.


Perhaps what you are seeing in the store is the beginnings of the crystallization process...Part of real honey. 

Pure honey over time will crystallize or turn to sugar. This is normal, natural and reversible. What you saw coming from the extractor (centrifuge) was pure honey. Pasteurization or dilution (sometimes with high fructose corn syrup) will usually delay or negate the appearance of the crystallization process.

To reverse the crystallization process, place the jar of honey in a pan of water and slowly heat it. Stop as soon as the honey re-liquefies. The honey should not re-crystallize for some time and you stayed below the pasteurization temperature where I feel a lot of the good stuff in honey is destroyed.


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## Iddee (Sep 25, 2005)

I think what you saw in the store was creamed honey. It is crystallized under controlled conditions to make it smooth and uniform in color and consistency. It spreads on toast or other mediums without dripping, thus being less messy. It has become more popular recently, and is showing up on store shelves more often. It is still raw honey, but so is the liquid that has not been heated.


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## christie (May 10, 2008)

Thats spread is what I have been seeing, I have friends no that swear that is raw honey, and everything else isn't, so the stuff that runs is also raw, but will crystalize eventually!
Thanks


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

There are those that believe that honey is no longer raw honey if it isn't still in the comb.


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## the kid (Jul 9, 2006)

NOW NOW lets not knock crystallized honey ,,, theres some of us that want it that way,,,, there is only ony problem with crystallized honet ,,, and that is it takes so long to crystallize ..
the kid


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Kid store the honey in the fridge or one of your snow banks. It crystializes faster when kept cold.
How many pails you want? Kare is going to Wisconsin this coming week and can deliver to the twin Cities at a resonable cost, despite the fuel cost.

 Al


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## susanne (Nov 4, 2004)

where in michigan are you and what kind of honey do you sell?
i'm from germany and the best honey i had is chestnut honey. looks like it is not available here in the us, at least i have not seen it yet.
i tried the buckwheat honey but it does not get near the strong taste as the chestnut honey.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

We are in South East Michigan. Our honey is pure Michigan Wild Flower Honey. Our bees are free roaming and not fenced in a clover field, that is truth in advertising.
It isn't heated or filtered. Some, the fall honey will crystlize in as little as a month. the spring honey will take some what longer.
We will sell a 40 pound pail of crystlize honey if you like it that way.

 Al


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## susanne (Nov 4, 2004)

i'm south east too. do you want to put one of your hives here? all natural weed flowers, no use of pesticides


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

(1. We have lost a lot of our bees and can not even fill the pollination we had lined up for this spring.
(2.I can not aford to just place one hive on property because of fuel cost to go check them and I also want more hives so if I need to shuffle brood around to boost weaker colonies or marry some. 
If your intrested in 12 or more colonies send me a PM with your location.

 Al


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## susanne (Nov 4, 2004)

al very sorry you lost so many bees. i hope they will recover soon. i'm in south lyon. i think 12 hives is a little bit too much.
i thought beekeeper would like to place their bees some where and did not even think about that there could be something like a waiting list to get some.
i think it was different when i was a child. 
maybe i really should look into get my own bees. DH is just not ready for them.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Go to the SEMBA web site,> http://www.sembabees.org/ <
and send a E mail to the president, Roger Sutherland. Roger is a real nice fellow and may know some one near you that might place just a couple hives there. He I am sure would know some one near you selling nucs and get you in bee school.
I have a lady I am teaching right now and her hubby wants nothing to do with the bees. We are splitting her two colonies today, so she will have 4.
I would need to put at least 50 there to cover my fuel cost thats a long ways from the thumb.

You might not be able to get in this years bee school. First class was March 30th. I see on the education section.

 Al


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

I learned beekeeping at a local college. During the lecture before we went out to the hives, the instructor told us many things.

Hot honey is thin, and cold honey is sluggish. So, to speed up processing, they heat the honey and the bottles get full a LOT fasterI This saves a small fortune when you are filling honey bears by the ton, and so all commercial places do this.

It is no longer "raw", it is now "pasturized". This is what you buy in the stores today. And, yes, I have tasted the difference and raw is MUCH better!

Also, a VERY long time ago, people used to dilute honey with corn syrup. Unless you used too much corn syrup it looked the same, the diluter got mor money, and the honey would be bland. People about this time decided that comb honey tasted better, and an awfull lot of people would only buy comb honey. My FIL included: he was born PERHAPS in 1920, and he always insisted he would ONLY eat comb honey as it tasted better. Though, by the time I knew him the government had put a stop to diluting honey.

China hasn't, yet. I would NOT buy honey from China at this time!!!!!!!


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

Terri, pasteurization means something VERY specific. It means heating up a substance to a specific temperature to kill pathogens. Heating honey to make it easier to pour is not the same as that, as it is not intended to kill any bacteria at all. 

There is not a standard for "raw honey". It may mean that it hasn't been filtered, or it may mean that it's with a chunk of comb (more normally called "comb honey"), or it may mean that it hasn't been heated for any purpose. 

A specific beekeeper in my area is selling "raw honey" which is basically poured straight off the comb. It contains bee parts, bits of wax, dirt, etc. Basically whatever got into the extractor.

I sell my honey as "local honey", to tap into the allergen-reducing market. I could probably sell just as much of it as "Ernie's Honey", since most people don't seem to care.

Another gimmick I'm seeing a lot of lately is "organic honey". Bees will fly quite a ways and you can't instruct them what to gather and what not to. There is also no organic certification (at least not through my certification authority) for honey. So that honey was produced from who-knows-what plants and is no more organic than anyone else's.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

I know what pasturization is SUPPOSED to mean: it means holding a fluid at a particular temp for a set amount of time.

Honey does not NEED to be pasturized, but I have seen it on labels here. I guess it just sounds better than saying "cooked".


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