Buoyant roadside honey sales since lockdown

[Amari]

Just sold our first ever jars of honey A guy comes into my wife’s pharmacy and asks whether it is really local and pure etc. My wife showed him some photos of the hives in our garden and us extracting it. He bought 2 jars, went home tried some and then came back and bought another two. £8 for 340g. Small contribution towards a great hobby. Shame we’ve only got about 30 jars to sell.

Your wife works in a pharmacy and you sell your honey there! You're quids in: the announcement yesterday that honey is officially recommended for simple coughs and colds rather than antibiotics or other cold remedies could earn you a fortune this winter - if only you had more for sale.

 

[Repwoc]

Maybe but a supermarket with all its resources against a little welsh trading standards office?

Yeah - definitely easier to go for hobby beekeepers.

 

[beeno]

Just sold our first ever jars of honey A guy comes into my wife’s pharmacy and asks whether it is really local and pure etc. My wife showed him some photos of the hives in our garden and us extracting it. He bought 2 jars, went home tried some and then came back and bought another two. £8 for 340g. Small contribution towards a great hobby. Shame we’ve only got about 30 jars to sell.

It is called Integrity. I have had it happening to me and I don't mind at all. I always say, however, that I cannot guarantee what my bees have been foraging on, but that is as good as it gets.

 

[Patrick1]

But the whole point is one may be lying where the other may not!! If I believe what I say is true then I should be allowed to say it, it only becomes wrong if you are speaking an untruth about your product.

I believe the manufacturers of Thalidomide believed the product was safe, your beliefs are immaterial, sorry ! but the reality is we all have an obligation to disseminate fact not belief

 

[Patrick1]

I believe that IS the message that the sellers of raw honey are trying to convey.

As defined in the honey regulations?

I am not sure if we are in agreement or not, but nowhere in the honey regulations does it say use the word Raw when describing honey straight from the hive, it is superfluous and misleading to say it is any different to Honey as a product. if we keep following the line of adding words as some kind of sales gimmick we will be soon speaking like Trump, exaggerating everything for effect and no substance. please excuse the use of Trump as an example but I thought it was a clear way to describe the point I am trying to make.

 

[enrico]

I believe the manufacturers of Thalidomide believed the product was safe, your beliefs are immaterial, sorry ! but the reality is we all have an obligation to disseminate fact not belief

There is no way in this world you can use that as an example. We all know the product is safe. I am not saying that my honey is safe or not. It is the descriptive words that are in question. I would actually go as far as to say that the example you use made me sad and cross. Thalidomide was a tragic outcome to a new product, not something that should be used as a comparison to honey sales!

 

[enrico]

I am not sure if we are in agreement or not, but nowhere in the honey regulations does it say use the word Raw when describing honey straight from the hive, it is superfluous and misleading to say it is any different to Honey as a product. if we keep following the line of adding words as some kind of sales gimmick we will be soon speaking like Trump, exaggerating everything for effect and no substance. please excuse the use of Trump as an example but I thought it was a clear way to describe the point I am trying to make.

Once again you are misquoting or misunderstanding, I have never described my honey as different to anyone else's honey. I am merely describing my product with the use of descriptive vernacular that I am happy to use and justify.
E

 

[Antipodes]

I thought honey described here in Aus. as raw honey, was honey not heated above hive temperature, as opposed to honey that was heated much more intensely after extraction. For instance, in my beekeeping book from the 80's it says that in order to keep honey liquid for any length of time it needs to be heated to 65c and then cooled rapidly. Isn't that done any more?

I thought honey heated beyond hive temperature, but less than 45c, might possibly not be raw honey, but I'm unclear about it now.

 

[enrico]

I thought honey described here in Aus. as raw honey, was honey not heated above hive temperature, as opposed to honey that was heated much more intensely after extraction. For instance, in my beekeeping book from the 80's it says that in order to keep honey liquid for any length of time it needs to be heated to 65c and then cooled rapidly. Isn't that done any more?

I thought honey heated beyond hive temperature, but less than 45c, might possibly not be raw honey, but I'm unclear about it now.

There is nothing in the UK that sets out what raw honey is or isn't, hence the debate on here about how you can describe your own honey.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

The British have a penchant for gold plating simple rules and making up some if none exist.
I wonder how the pedants would deal with a sign in a local country lane gateway "naturally pure eggs for sale"?

 

[Antipodes]

There is nothing in the UK that sets out what raw honey is or isn't, hence the debate on here about how you can describe your own honey.

Hi Enrico, I can't find anything here that sets it out either, but there seems to be plenty for sale! I guess I thought I knew what it was, but not so sure now.

 

[enrico]

The British have a penchant for gold plating simple rules and making up some if none exist.
I wonder how the pedants would deal with a sign in a local country lane gateway "naturally pure eggs for sale"?

I suppose they could call them raw.....i.e. not heated!!!!!!
But then there is another set of rules for free range!
E

 

[Repwoc]

I am not sure if we are in agreement or not, but nowhere in the honey regulations does it say use the word Raw when describing honey straight from the hive, it is superfluous and misleading to say it is any different to Honey as a product. if we keep following the line of adding words as some kind of sales gimmick we will be soon speaking like Trump, exaggerating everything for effect and no substance. please excuse the use of Trump as an example but I thought it was a clear way to describe the point I am trying to make.

https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/threads/buoyant-roadside-honey-sales-since-lockdown.47041/post-722193

 

[Repwoc]

free range!

I never thought of that - free range honey. Who could possibly complain about that?

 

[Erichalfbee]

I never thought of that - free range honey.

Now that’s a thought
I wonder whether you’d get away with that?

 

[hemo]

Why not, no one can dictate where or what a colony forages on away from the hive. One can't call it organic but no reason why not Free range.

 

[Amari]

The British have a penchant for gold plating simple rules and making up some if none exist.
I wonder how the pedants would deal with a sign in a local country lane gateway "naturally pure eggs for sale"?

Or as my late father-in-law once saw "Naturally pure eggs for sale. Each one individually laid"

 

[sushiguru]

No, and no. Free Range has a specific meaning in conjunction with eggs, acting as the opposite of caged. There's a definition of what Free Range can then be so as not to confuse the consumer. It cannot be applied to honey.

The same thing applies to Raw. As per the honey legislation, honey can be prefixed with an adjective if it describes either a property or quality of it (blossom, soft set, runny, heather) - but this must be verifiable. There is NO definition in the legislation for Raw, therefore it is not verifiable. It is a gimmick marketing word for the latest in fad living.

 

[North End Bees]

I never thought of that - free range honey. Who could possibly complain about that?

Yes, free range to forage in the skips behind the confectionary factory a mile down the road?!

 

[Patrick1]

No, and no. Free Range has a specific meaning in conjunction with eggs, acting as the opposite of caged. There's a definition of what Free Range can then be so as not to confuse the consumer. It cannot be applied to honey.

The same thing applies to Raw. As per the honey legislation, honey can be prefixed with an adjective if it describes either a property or quality of it (blossom, soft set, runny, heather) - but this must be verifiable. There is NO definition in the legislation for Raw, therefore it is not verifiable. It is a gimmick marketing word for the latest in fad living.

There is nothing in the UK that sets out what raw honey is or isn't, hence the debate on here about how you can describe your own honey.

We are not here to debate the rules, they are what they are for a reason, the public can trust "Honey"