Poll: Should it be legal to use the word "Raw" on labels to describe unheated, non-pressure filtered honey

[PeaBee]

Consumer rights, the promotion of quality, choice, and value for money, campaigning for the greater appreciation of traditional honey have all been hinted at - must be almost time to mount a serious campaign.

A campaign promoting UK honey would be great but who is going to fund it? BBKA? BFA? If it was a successful campaign could domestic honey production meet increased demand or would prices just go up and production stay the same?
I have just been in a "whole food" shop that suggest by its name it supply local foods and the honey on offer consisted of a few 1lb jars of very poorly presented local (OSR) honey with ink run labels etc but with the all important Raw on them and some well present cut comb that from the front you would assume was a UK product. But in the small print was Product of Hungary. Both of which I thought disappointing for the discerning comsumer

 

[Finman]

Why that raw word is so important to some beekeepers?

What is the big idea, what they are selling to customer?

How to explain that raw, when a customer wants to know more about it?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

If it was a successful campaign could domestic honey production meet increased demand

No - we don't produce enough to meet the current demand, that's why getting one's panties in a plait over cheap 'foreign' honey is a bit pointless as, at the moment we sell all our honey, and at a premium - the people who buy 99p honey will carry on buying that regardless.
An old work colleague of my mother's buys my honey for her consumption and for her daughter who uses it as her sole sweetener, then she buys tesco honey for her husband as it's the only one he'll eat

 

[Murox]

A campaign promoting UK honey would be great but who is going to fund it? BBKA? BFA? If it was a successful campaign could domestic honey production meet increased demand or would prices just go up and production stay the same?
I have just been in a "whole food" shop that suggest by its name it supply local foods and the honey on offer consisted of a few 1lb jars of very poorly presented local (OSR) honey with ink run labels etc but with the all important Raw on them and some well present cut comb that from the front you would assume was a UK product. But in the small print was Product of Hungary. Both of which I thought disappointing for the discerning comsumer

a serious campaign.

 

[Newbeeneil]

A campaign promoting UK honey would be great but who is going to fund it? BBKA? BFA? If it was a successful campaign could domestic honey production meet increased demand or would prices just go up and production stay the same?
I have just been in a "whole food" shop that suggest by its name it supply local foods and the honey on offer consisted of a few 1lb jars of very poorly presented local (OSR) honey with ink run labels etc but with the all important Raw on them and some well present cut comb that from the front you would assume was a UK product. But in the small print was Product of Hungary. Both of which I thought disappointing for the discerning comsumer

I have found the same in wholefood shops. When questioned a proprietor said he only stocked the foreign stuff because no locals could supply all year around. When the locals run out he still had to have some honey on his shelves.

 

[Finman]

Votes 50: 50

What then?

 

[user 20297]

Votes 50: 50

What then?

I think it means we've left the EU and can take control of our honey and call it whatever we like.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Votes 50: 50

What then?

We call it half baked

 

[Finman]

I think it means we've left the EU

Oh dear....

Produced outside EU

.

 

[Ian123]

Sorry this is all b&@lock5… given the fact none can prove the 60p a jar carp on the shelf is not honey, who is going to police this new RAW unheated minimal filtered standard. If it’s half as good a marketing tool as some suggest it won’t be long before there’s more raw honey shifted by supermarkets than any uk beeks

 

[elainemary]

How? How does it mislead and confuse?

Indeed. face to face sale you can have a conversation with the buyer.
I have had many such on Messenger too after my honey goes on Facebook
marketplace
The answer may be to advertise it Raw but not put it on the label?

'Misleading' as what do you do if a bucket has crystallised? Warm it...so no longer 'raw'
'Confusing' as non beekeepers don't understand what it means. They do understand locally produced & the benefits

 

[Finman]

If you cannot use filtered, use rubbish removed.

And you can use term PALEO honey.

 

[Erichalfbee]

'Misleading' as what do you do if a bucket has crystallised? Warm it...so no longer 'raw'
'Confusing' as non beekeepers don't understand what it means. They do understand locally produced & the benefits

Thanks, I wondered what you meant.
I warm my crystallised buckets at 40 degrees so I don't mislead anybody
A heck of a lot of my customers understand raw quite well and ask for it.

 

[Antipodes]

Thanks, I wondered what you meant.
I warm my crystallised buckets at 40 degrees so I don't mislead anybody
A heck of a lot of my customers understand raw quite well and ask for it.

I've just looked in one of my books and it seems to hold off crystallisation, the bigger producers heat it to about 65 degrees c before cooling it rapidly.

 

[Finman]

I've just looked in one of my books and it seems to hold off crystallisation, the bigger producers heat it to about 65 degrees c before cooling it rapidly.

Heating honey to 60C gives taste of melted wax.

 

[Antipodes]

Heating honey to 60C gives taste of melted wax.

You're joking?

 

[Finman]

You're joking?

I am not. I have examined, in what water bath temperature I should soften a 25 kg honey bucket.

55C is the water temperature, where I put the bucket to stand. If the bath is hotter, the small wax particles melts in the honey. In 40 C bath nothing happens.

When I put the bucket into 60 litres barrel, the 55C water starts to cool the bath water. It takes 4 - 5 hours to soften the honey that I can jar it.

It is in the soft set honey making patent 1936 that honey is heated to 71C.

If the bucket or big barrel is crystallized, everyone must heat the container, that he gets the honey out. So simple.

One way is to grind the honey crystals and you get some kind of porriage as end product.

 

[Antipodes]

I am not. I have examined, in what water bath temperature I should soften a 25 kg honey bucket.

55C is the water temperature, where I put the bucket to stand. If the bath is hotter, the small wax particles melts in the honey. In 40 C bath nothing happens.

When I put the bucket into 60 litres barrel, the 55C water starts to cool the bath water. It takes 4 - 5 hours to soften the honey that I can jar it.

It is in the soft set honey making patent 1936 that honey is heated to 71C.

If the bucket or big barrel is crystallized, everyone must heat the container, that he gets the honey out. So simple.

One way is to grind the honey crystals and you get some kind of porriage as end product.

Yeah, but surely those big guys don't have the wax particles in their honey before they heat it up to 65?

 

[Hockey Bee]

Nectar is moved from bee to bee with enzymes being added to the nectar and dehydration occurring during the process to put it to stores. Surely this is processing if not by man but by bee. If it was raw surely it’s nectar?
i thought this was basic beek knowledge?

 

[Repwoc]

Nectar is moved from bee to bee with enzymes being added to the nectar and dehydration occurring during the process to put it to stores. Surely this is processing if not by man but by bee. If it was raw surely it’s nectar?
i thought this was basic beek knowledge?

Of course - and the sugars in the nectar come from CO2 in the atmosphere - just add water + photons, so raw must mean CO2. But these heavy elements were forged by nuclear fusion in the centre of stars, so obviously raw must mean hydrogen.