Is honey a premium product?

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Has anyone checked if honey that has been capped and stored in its honeycomb crystallizes?

I've got some cut comb in the kitchen at home which proves it does.

there is actually a class in the Welsh National honey show (and has been for years) for crystalised honey in the comb - so it's hardly a rare phenomenon

 

[fian]

there is actually a class in the Welsh National honey show (and has been for years) for crystalised honey in the comb - so it's hardly a rare phenomenon

So if I were a beekeeper in the United Kingdom, I would seriously consider selling crystallized honey, both in honeycombs and in jars, despite the difficulties of perception that it seems to have in the public.

 

[Ian123]

So if I were a beekeeper in the United Kingdom, I would seriously consider selling crystallized honey, both in honeycombs and in jars, despite the difficulties of perception that it seems to have in the public.

Why!!

 

[fian]

Why!!

Several reasons.
1. Impossibility of maintaining the same quality in liquid.
2. Market without competition.
3. Elimination of additional costs by avoiding heating the honey.
4. Didactic added value of my activity.

 

[Wilco]

Well, through pollen analysis, we know with great certainty where the bees go, but another thing is that the cost compensates for the sale. The presence of pesticides can also be checked.
As I have pointed out, this is only possible in Galicia in environmentally protected areas where the use of pesticides is prohibited and varroa control is reduced. In addition, CREAGA performs analyzes to verify the imposition of the ecological seal. Without this seal, any Galician knows that the product will not be organic, no matter how much literature is attached to the label.

Pollen analysis tells you which plants they've foraged on, not which patch of those plants. It may be useful in the middle of large EPAs but that is a rather rare situation.

Unless mixing large amounts of honey from different hives, cost of testing will not be covered by sale.

 

[fian]

Pollen analysis tells you which plants they've foraged on, not which patch of those plants. It may be useful in the middle of large EPAs but that is a rather rare situation.

Unless mixing large amounts of honey from different hives, cost of testing will not be covered by sale.

And yet there are 16 national parks in the UK. Will beekeeping be an activity allowed in them?

 

[ericbeaumont]

seriously consider selling crystallized honey, both in honeycombs and in jars

Selling set honey in the comb or jar in the UK is commonplace.

despite the difficulties of perception that it seems to have in the public.

It sells more slowly but it's not difficult to sell set honey, just depends what the the customer prefers; I have noticed that younger buyers don't know why it has set.

This thread set out to discuss the quality, price and perception of beekeepers and customers of our main product, but really those factors are not related to processing, HMF, analysis and other misleading dark alleys, but to do with the established perception of beekeepers and consumers - how they used to value honey and how, and why, that is changing.

In short, beekeepers of the past undervalued the product and sold it cheaply, training consumers to expect to buy a big jar for not very much. So continued the chicken and egg game until questions began to be asked about production methods of supermarket food, environmental damage of cheap food production, carbon miles of imports and the authenticity of what we ate.

This global discussion is permanent now that global warming has hit us and in the last ten years or so it has been possible to nudge both parties to re-evaluate honey - an authentic product produced locally with little detrimental environmental impact but much benefit - and for the beekeeper to ask more for it, and the customer to agree.

 

[Wilco]

And yet there are 16 national parks in the UK. Will beekeeping be an activity allowed in them?

National parks in the UK include farmland and various private gardens where pesticides and chemical fertilisers are used. Beekeeping is allowed but it's basically impossible to call/certify any UK honey as 'organic'.

 

[fian]

Selling set honey in the comb or jar in the UK is commonplace.


It sells more slowly but it's not difficult to sell set honey, just depends what the the customer prefers; I have noticed that younger buyers don't know why it has set.

This thread set out to discuss the quality, price and perception of beekeepers and customers of our main product, but really those factors are not much to do with processing, HMF, analysis and other misleading dark alleys, but to do with the established perception of beekeepers and consumers - how they used to value honey and how, and why, that is changing.

In short, beekeepers of the old days undervalued the product and sold it cheaply, training consumers to expect to buy a big jar for not very much. So continued the chicken and egg game until questions began to be asked about production methods of supermarket food, environmental damage of cheap food production, carbon miles of imports and the authenticity of what we ate.

This global discussion is permanent now that global warming has hit us and in the last ten years or so it has been possible to nudge both parties to re-evaluate honey - an authentic product produced locally with little detrimental environmental impact but much benefit - and for the beekeeper to ask more for it, and the customer to agree.

Younger buyers buy crystallized honey because for them it is synonymous with "unadulterated" or "quality". This is because they lack numerical values that support this action, one of which may be the HMF.
In addition, there is no darker and more deceptive alley than labels without analytical support.
We beekeepers must decide where our product is located and be consistent with it, or it is premium and therefore we must reject imitations through analytics and raising awareness among customers or we allow it to continue its chederization.

 

[Anduril]

Have I woken up in an alternative forum because this thread is heading into the realms of Manuka. One man's wine is another man's poison. I sell semi-crystallised honey to a small clientèle because they like the texture, this has got nothing to do with ignorance or snobbery of how premium a product is, or how it is perceived. Also different countries have different flora and can allow mono floral honey to be sold. This may benefit the commercial beekeeper or the discerning palate of the buyer.

 

[fian]

Have I woken up in an alternative forum because this thread is heading into the realms of Manuka. One man's wine is another man's poison. I sell semi-crystallised honey to a small clientèle because they like the texture, this has got nothing to do with ignorance or snobbery of how premium a product is, or how it is perceived. Also different countries have different flora and can allow mono floral honey to be sold. This may benefit the commercial beekeeper or the discerning palate of the buyer.

That was not my intention and in fact no price or manuka was mentioned in any comment. We are talking about quality parameters and the perception of honey by consumers.
For me, honey is a premium product in the same sense as grazing milk or local artisan cheese. From this point of view, your product is premium and therefore your customers always come back.

 

[Anduril]

Firstly you appear to imply that crystallised honey is inferior and should be treated as such if it is gently heated. But the crystallisation happens because of the higher glucose level in honey.
In Tenerife there is the La Casa De La Miel, where they provide many services for the beekeeper and I believe test the honey for a fee. In Galicia you have a number of historical beekeeping sites and honey that is EU protected and for a fee your honey is tested. In the UK we have this service through our local government Trading Standards. Your use of the term 'industrial honey' would be our equivalent of 'bakers honey'.
I do know of a beekeeping operation in Cardiff that bought honey from a beekeeper in England. The service provided was to extract, bottle and label the honey, but because it wasn't a local honey they couldn't
sell it in one of their usual outlets. I was approached by a third party to sell my honey in a shop, they had been selling English honey and the arrangement was for them to only sell my honey. Feedback I have had is that my honey has made its way to Dublin, regularly gone up to Scotland and been tasted by a millionaire landowner from the Amazon.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

there are 16 national parks in the UK. Will beekeeping be an activity allowed in them?

they are in all of them why shouldn't it be? - 50% of my apiaries are within a National Park. National parks aren't museums whatever some of their committee members would like to believe - they all encompass living, working communities

 

[fian]

they are in all of them why shouldn't it be? - 50% of my apiaries are within a National Park. National parks aren't museums whatever some of their committee members would like to believe - they all encompass living, working communities

Yes, but that does not mean that all the intensive conventional procedures are admissible in a protected area.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Yes, but that does not mean that all the intensive conventional procedures are admissible in a protected area.

it is no different to beekeeping in any other area - why should it be?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Yes, but that does not mean that all the intensive conventional procedures are admissible in a protected area.

But there are towns and villages in our national parks and with those come gardens and pesticides

 

[fian]

it is no different to beekeeping in any other area - why should it be?

Beekeeping is no different simply that what are not admissible are the products to be used, especially those that are harmful to ecosystems. As in beekeeping, also in other commercial activities

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Beekeeping is no different simply that what are not admissible are the products to be used, especially those that are harmful to ecosystems. As in beekeeping, also in other commercial activities

as I said, here, everything admissible in other areas is also admissible in a National park, there is no difference - how many times do you need to be told?

 

[fian]

as I said, here, everything admissible in other areas is also admissible in a National park, there is no difference - how many times do you need to be told?

That today it is, does not mean that it can or should change, especially when it comes to the protection and conservation of these natural spaces. Neither a museum nor intensive conventional, there will be a midpoint of balance.
I do not want a product and a uniform beekeeping because this mode of action leads us to decline, we need a point of daring, eagerness and diversity in human activities is what leads to success.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

what an absolute load of tripe