Poly Hive said:
Thanks. Had a discussion at the Good Food Show about 3k of imports that an outfit claims to import. Mind you they also make some odd claims about all their honey being from the UK... no to mention they use no chemicals and so are organic... HO................HUM.... and no one on their stand knew what Varroa was....
Anyone smell a rat?
I had interesting chats today too. One was very obviously aware of Varroa, He mentioned that you had dropped by. You had probably swapped notes about the vendor you refer to.
I had to congratulate the other one that, because he was selling Manuka Honey, he at least had an accent that matched the origins of his product. I believe that he said his Grandfather had been a beekeeper, suggesting that he wasn't himself. Talking about UMF and HMF, he remarked that Manuka honey that exceeded HMF values had been turned away on import to the UK as unfit. He also described a fire which had container fire that caused drums to expand dangerously and that on later inspection the UMF was up as was the HMF (through the roof). Someone else commented later that Manuka honey tasted 'cooked', so could it be that a Manuka factor of 20+ with it's dark colour is also an indicator of a HMF value that most of you would never wish your honey to reach? That gentleman was sceptical about the HMF levels in the higher UMF levels near 20+. We didn't speak about varroa.
I didn't speak to the other, bigger stall,l that appears to be the one you refer to, employing a couple of young ladies for their looks rather than their product knowledge. With two gents in suits appearing from time to time. Is the proprietor the one with or without the set?
Hope you enjoyed the show and still have some money left.
