So was this actual real honey or artificial honey?
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/11/tests-show-most-store-honey-isnt-honey/#.UkIAmb7n9jo
All of the above. I will from now on only buy local. I might even drive to the bee farm. Whatever honey I find in the house is going in the trash.
The big honey companies microfilter not just to remove pollen (which as the article states makes the origins hard to trace). The big reason is that Americans won’t buy honey that’s crystallized. Ultrafiltration can delay or prevent crystallization. The supermarkets would be stuck with a ton of unsellable crystallized honey.
The folks at food Safety think that if it has no pollen it’s not “real” honey, I think that’s a bit extreme.
It is possible though to adulterate honey with HFCS, in which case it’s not honey. HFCS and honey are very close chemically, a water solution of fructose, glucose, and a few other very minor constituents.
Seems like real honey, but the pollen was often filtered out to disguise the country of origin (different local flora, different pollen to test for). So, it came from bees, but under the FDA standard in that article, it might not have qualified as “real” honey.
I know a woman back in the 70s who used to make “Honey” by boiling sugar and water with clover flowers. I think I still have the receipe somewhere. She was an impoverished never left the land type.
All wearing bullet proof vests. We all know how dangerous honey bandits can be. Government out of control again. That is the main take away from this story for me.
It was real honey. The problem was the government didn’t get their ‘cut’ (tarrif).