Honey, What's So Good about It? (wild, look)

[goldengrain]

The Science Behind Honey's Eternal Shelf Life | Surprising Science

Why it sometimes crystallizes.
How and why it's used commercially for wound healing.

[oeccscclhjhn]

...pots of honey, thousands of years old, and yet still preserved.

...food source with no expiration date

amazing.

[goldengrain]

Originally Posted by f.2

amazing.

Yes. Once you open it, it CAN go bad, and never mix it with sugar. Mine always crystallizes before I finish it. It only pays to get a really small bottle.

[bjh]

Crystallized honey can be "fixed."


Liquefying Crystallized Honey - YouTube

[goldengrain]

Thank you. I did do this for a bit but it's a hassle for the times that I use it and in such small quantities.

[breeinmo.]

Thanks for this Golden. I'd like to find the most "perfect" brand to buy. I've heard bad things about the ones we buy in supermarkets, cant remember off hand why they're not what we think they are. It was on a show like 20/20 or Dateline I think. Everyone says to buy from a beekeeper, but they're not any around here that I know of.

[goldengrain]

Originally Posted by breeinmo.

Thanks for this Golden. I'd like to find the most "perfect" brand to buy. I've heard bad things about the ones we buy in supermarkets, cant remember off hand why they're not what we think they are. It was on a show like 20/20 or Dateline I think. Everyone says to buy from a beekeeper, but they're not any around here that I know of.

The article, and I don't know how accurate it is, says:

If you buy your honey from the supermarket, that little plastic bottle of golden nectar has been heated, strained and processed so that it contains zero particulates, meaning that there’s nothing in the liquid for molecules to crystallize on, and your supermarket honey will look the same for almost forever. If you buy your honey from a small-scale vendor, however, certain particulates might remain, from pollen to enzymes.
(The Science Behind Honey's Eternal Shelf Life | Surprising Science)

I think different manufacturers use the little plastic bear because the bottle is available for private beekeepers to package in, too.

I bought the little plastic bear from my supermarket and it crystallized, too I don't think I ever had honey that did not do that. The idea is that commercially produced honey is so filtered and processed that there are no particles. I think some supermarkets will carry smaller company brands that might come from local producers.

[harry chickpea]

I was talking with the local beekeeper last week. I happened to be taking a side road that I'd never been on before, saw his sign, and stopped in. Got a quart and a pint of honey for $20 so I was a happy camper. He heats to about 150 degrees when processing. Much higher than that destroys the enzymes. A lot of the local honey come from canola fields. His comment was that the bees fill up the combs really fast on it compared to other crops. Yes, he does have the honey bear containers as well. He lost between 20 and 30 percent of his hives last year and said that it was consistent with what his beekeeper friends were experiencing.

My problem with store bought honey is that it can be diluted with corn syrup, which is much cheaper. I'm not saying it always is, just that I don't trust it as much as what is made and bottled locally. He may retire in a year or so, so I might have to stock up. Wonder how long it will last...

Oh yeah, many beekeepers put their address and/or phone on the label. If so, you can generally ask to buy direct if you want to buy any significant quantity and are willing to pick it up.

[Almrausch]

We buy since a very long time honey from the beekeeper. Before we recently moved, we had wild bees descending to one of our outer end hedge ,an amazing site and wonder to see. Boy did it smell after honey that tall hive. I called our beekeeper we always get our honey from and he was happy to remove the hive for free in a large box. He left the box for a few days til the bees all settled in there and than he picked up the box and took it to his bee farm. For a year we received free honey.