Raw honey

[Gilberdyke John]

When I was recently reported for adding sugar to my honey part of the complaint was that I had "reprocessed" the honey by adding sugars to it.

??? Huh???

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Rather than raw I use the word ‘Pure’ on my honey jars.

There's a farm gate seller of cackleberries near me. A large sign states NATURALLY PURE EGGS FROM OUR OWN HENS. Seems fair to have a sign saying honey naturally made by our own bees for gatepost sales.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Must be a bit of a worry for those smaller beefarmers, who are likely to be inspected and who use generic OA by sublimation to clean their hives, rather than us backyard dabblers who are probably not as visible to the NBU. Although, I've nothing to fear as I don't treat my bees with anything - what goes in to the hives is what the bees bring in.

Anyone know how to differentiate sublimated OA from different sources? Or even traces of OA from natural foraged sources from introduced by a beekeeper?

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Well, that was shocking news, but on reflection, not, because micro plastics pollute our entire planet. Thankfully, bees' natural housekeeping almost prevents the contamination of honey: Most of the MF* (micro fibres) were accumulated in wax showing that honey remains as a safe food.

According to the google, a micro fibre is synthetic fiber finer than one denier or decitex/thread, having a diameter of less than ten micrometers and that Diatomaceous frustules have a variety of particle sizes, averaging from 3 μm to 200 μm and sometimes up to 1 mm.

MF diameter less than 10 micrometres, DE 3-200 micrometres, but what size of DE would be necessary to remove MF?

If anyone is in doubt of the gory detail of industrial honey processing, this patent application for DE filtration will keep you on the edge of your seat. At the end the inventors claim (vaguely, with the intent to reassure) that no loss or modification of flavor can be detected in the filtered honey, as compared with the original honey, and they deliberately avoid mention of the loss of pollen, minerals, vitamins and other beneficial attributes.

Having run industrial filtration of glucose as part of the refinery process the filters consisted of two stages. 1. a cloth filter which was used in conjunction with a particulate precoat layer (starch) that stopped the unwanted particulates. 2. After primary filtration the thin syrup was mixed with fine particles of activated carbon to remove colour from the syrup so the final product was water white. The black liquid was filtered through ceramic "candles" also covered with a pre-coat. Neither of our pre coats were diatomaceous earth but the idea of the pre coat was to filter the batch, stop the forward flow, switch over to a reverse flow with water so the layer of precoat plus extracted "muck" for want of a better description fell off the cloth or candles and be disposed of into waste handling. The waste material contained carbohydrates and sugars and went to a pig farmer as feed. The cloths and the candles were merely supports for the pre filter material so remained reusable for hundreds of batch cycles. It was always interesting to run tours of the plant and show visitors the black liquid in the sight glass going into the candle filters then coming out as clear as tapwater from a mountain stream. Disbelief was the normal reaction.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

I think customers that buy their honey straight from the beekeeper can tell the difference in taste between good beekeepers honey and the other trash regardless of what it says in the label. The rest is just faff that isn't worth worrying about. On a hobbyist's level, the average customer is more interested in chatting to a beekeeper and knowing they have beehives in an apiary than what is written on the label. My labels just say 'Burgh Castle Honey' and they fly out. No need for silly gimmick words. The name of the area where they forage is better than anything else (if you happen to have only one apiary).

I acquired a regular customer a couple of years ago. Unfortunately last year my yield was down and I ran out of supply for sales in December. She accepted the situation and asked to be notified as soon as this years crop became available. Speaking to her a couple of weeks ago she said she had bought some supermarket honey and pulled a face which said tell your bees to get busy!

 

[ericbeaumont]

Anyone know how to differentiate sublimated OA from different sources? Or even traces of OA from natural foraged sources from introduced by a beekeeper?

Manufactured OA is defined chemically and constituents cannot vary. The makers of the muck ApiBioxal will likely get their 96% pure OA from the same source as the eBay seller: the Spanish company Oxaquim is the largest European producer (and the third global) of OA, and not far from the Northern Italian company Chemicals Laif which produces ApiBioxal.

Need a chemist to differentiate rhubarb OA from the packet version.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Maybe a good reason to name your house "proper"
Proper Honey made by Proper Welsh Bees.............has a good ring to it.

I think that is actually a saying proper honey made by super proper bees .

 

[ericbeaumont]

All honey has had nothing added so it is unnecessary to say 'pure' plus you are giving the impression your honey is special when it is not.

An impression is subjective and therefore irrelevant, but the definition of pure given earlier comes from the UK food regulatory body, whereas raw is not included.

All honey has had nothing added

At Christmas a contractor showed me their (hopeless) in-house design for a new label that described the honey as made with love. As love would have been an added ingredient I edited the wording to comply with the regs.

Plenty of people add products and the results could not therefore be called pure, so the term does have value in stating the obvious. Heard recently of a beekeeper who intends to sell his honey with added gold, following the bizarre media storm that is Salt Bae and his £630 gold steaks.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I think that is actually a saying proper honey made by super proper bees .

Why is super another word for Welsh?

 

[robinharman]

Anyone know how to differentiate sublimated OA from different sources? Or even traces of OA from natural foraged sources from introduced by a beekeeper?

Probably on your VMD records to identify where it was purchased/lot number etc.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Anyone know how to differentiate sublimated OA from different sources? Or even traces of OA from natural foraged sources from introduced by a beekeeper?

ignore it - just a thinly veiled threat aimed at someone who doesn't agree with him.

 

[Erichalfbee]

ignore it - just a thinly veiled threat aimed at someone who doesn't agree with him.

None of this Oxalic stuff makes sense. According to many snips I’ve read you can’t tell the difference and oxalic is a normal constituent of honey anyway.
What would anybody rather, honey made by bees treated with something that appears in honey anyway or by those who have walked all over Amitraz?

 

[warsaw_hive]

Plenty of people add products and the results could not therefore be called pure, so the term does have value in stating the obvious.

The honey regs say:

No food ingredient has been added, including any food additive.
No other additions have been made to the honey except for other honey.

I've never been sure whether this means you can't sell "Honey with hazelnuts", but should instead sell "hazelnuts in honey".

 

[warsaw_hive]

I can't see how vitamin honey complies with the honey regs: https://justbeehoney.co.uk/products...syp1lvenIZwPg9q6kgT2shjTF6Z0AHYRoCDYEQAvD_BwE

 

[warsaw_hive]

I can't see how vitamin honey complies with the honey regs: https://justbeehoney.co.uk/products...syp1lvenIZwPg9q6kgT2shjTF6Z0AHYRoCDYEQAvD_BwE

If you click the link and look at the web address it actually says "raw vitamin honey"! JustBee's blog description of raw honey was used by Odysea as evidence. I can't find a simple raw honey by JustBee other than one with lots of other ingredients.

 

[ericbeaumont]

I can't see how vitamin honey complies with the honey regs: https://justbeehoney.co.uk/products...syp1lvenIZwPg9q6kgT2shjTF6Z0AHYRoCDYEQAvD_BwE

It can't and is blatant twaddle: if it is just bee honey then adding vitamins contradicts the title.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

It can't and is blatant twaddle

isn't that what we've been discussing from the start?

 

[ericbeaumont]

whether this means you can't sell "Honey with hazelnuts", but should instead sell "hazelnuts in honey"

Either or all seem to be acceptable at the online level of knowledge: this one is called Beehype! It's Nuts! - Mixed Nuts in Pure Raw Acacia Honey with Natural enzymes, Vitamins, Minerals, Antioxidants and 14g of protein per jar

Nearly a full house: raw, natural, and pure. At least it is no longer under the beady eye of the Honey Regs, but is classified as a food.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Either or all seem to be acceptable at the online level of knowledge: this one is called Beehype! It's Nuts! - Mixed Nuts in Pure Raw Acacia Honey with Natural enzymes, Vitamins, Minerals, Antioxidants and 14g of protein per jar

Nearly a full house: raw, natural, and pure.

with an added pinch of bullshite

 

[ericbeaumont]

an added pinch of bullshite

At least that is in the mind of the producer and not the jar.