# Anyone here sell raw honey?



## Kimi (Apr 10, 2005)

I would like to buy some raw honey so if you have any or will have some soon, could you email me? Is unfiltered better than filtered?
Thanks!
Kim
[email protected]


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## Elizabeth (Jun 4, 2002)

Hi Kimi-

I just sent you an email.
Generally speaking, unfiltered honey is considered by some people to be more desireable than filtered honey for a couple of reasons-

1. In order to filter honey it must first be heated. Heating can destroy some of the enzymes present in the honey; it can also darken the honey; and it can affect the taste of the honey. Also, when people use raw honey they frequently want the honey to include some pollen, especially if they are trying to build a resistance to allergies. Filtering removes most of the pollen from the honey.

2. Honey sold as "raw" is usually _strained_ through a strainer, which is coarser than a filter, to remove wax before bottling. Straining does not remove as much pollen as filtering does, and the honey does not have to be heated in order to strain it.


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## Vere My Sone (Mar 10, 2005)

unheated honey will also crystalize alot faster than heated honey


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## Elizabeth (Jun 4, 2002)

You are correct about that- another reason commercial packers heat honey is to retard crystallization. 

I do not like to heat my honey, which is one of the reasons I only pack it in glass canning jars. Of course, I tell people that if their honey crystallizes that means they are not eating it fast enough, lol. But, by packing it in glass, they can heat it later if needed. Personally, I do not like food in plastic, but I definitely would never heat honey in a plastic container. 

I actually found a case of honey from 3 years ago when I moved recently- I had bottled it up and then stuck it in the back of a closet for safe-keeping- ha, it was so safe I forgot all about it! But, it was some of my best honey, so I am keeping it and just heating it one jar at a time as I use it. As far as I can tell it is still as good now as the day I bottled it. So, I don't see any sense in heating before bottling- most of our honey is sold or used long before it granulates.


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## Mike in Ohio (Oct 29, 2002)

Hi Kim,

Where in Ohio are you located? Our home is in Strongsville (By Cleveland) and our farm is in Carroll County. We sell raw honey. We cold cap and cold process - we strain the honey through multiple layers of cheesecloth and that is it. We have also been avoiding chemicals such as checkmite and apistan for treating the bees.

We pulled about 50 pounds of light spring honey on Saturday but I probably won't get it extracted for a couple more weeks. I hadn't expected to have new honey this early but the bees at the farm have had favorable weather and good forage. They are in much better shape than the ones at our house. We also have some from last year as well (but not a lot left).

Mike


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## Elizabeth (Jun 4, 2002)

Hey Mike-

Do you guys have small hive beetles in Ohio? Just wondered cause you mentioned extracting in a couple of weeks.


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## Kimi (Apr 10, 2005)

I'm in Guernsey County, where I-70 and I-77 intersect.
Please send me ordering details and prices whenever you're ready. Send to:[email protected] 
Is there such thing as apple blossom honey? Just wondering because my apple tree is just loaded with blossoms and the bees are having quite a time in it. The blossoms smell SO good that it made me wonder about honey. I have recently had some raw wildflower honey and it tastes a little like wildflowers smell. _(I love springtime!!)_ 
Thanks Mike!



Mike in Ohio said:


> Hi Kim,
> 
> Where in Ohio are you located? Our home is in Strongsville (By Cleveland) and our farm is in Carroll County. We sell raw honey. We cold cap and cold process - we strain the honey through multiple layers of cheesecloth and that is it. We have also been avoiding chemicals such as checkmite and apistan for treating the bees.
> 
> ...


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## Mike in Ohio (Oct 29, 2002)

Sorry for the delayed response, I just got back from Chicago (tiring drive) and haven't kept up with the board for the past few days.

Elizabeth, fortunately we haven't had problems with small hive beetles in our area (yet!). I figure it will be just like everything else and sooner or later we will have to deal with them just like everything else. We got a clean bill on mites from the bee inspector too (I'm kinda amazed at that one) for the hives by our house. Haven't gotten the inspection report for the hives at the farm yet.

The only reason I'm going to be extracting is because I have 3 honey supers left from last fall still to extract (that's all the honey we have left for from last year) plus the deep frames I pulled to make room for the bees to work on and keep busy (with the new frames with just foundation). I'm going to pull some more frames this Saturday when I bring down honey supers to put on the hives. We normally start pulling an extracting in late June. I generally turn our supers around (how many times filled) 2-3 times a year. I try to have 2-4 honey supers available per hive but only a couple on at a time. We do mostly shallows to make it easier for my wife to handle them.

Kimi, bees will make honey from apple blossoms (or pretty much any other fruit blossoms). It wouldn't be only apple blossom honey. All sorts of other forage is available at the same time apples blossom.

Orange blossom honey (or almond honey) tends to be much more from a single forage. That's because they have these huge groves and pretty much kill off everything else that might be forage for the bees.

I'll send you an email with details.

Mike


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