[FairOpinion]

Here are a couple places I found that I am considering.

I am not vouching for them, because I have just found them myself, haven't ordered from them, but they seemed reasonable.

http://www.pureroyaljelly.com/index.html

http://www.reallyrawhoney.com/

[diamond6]

Thanks for the info (post 77)

[WorkingClassFilth]

I'll let you all decide what you want to spend your money on, but I will offer you an insight or two from over 30 years of keeping bees...

The company you linked to called 'Really Raw Honey' (RRH) has created its market niche through the general ignorance of the consumer. The key to their hype (and their prices that are nearly twice the going rate for raw honey) is that the public doesn't have a clue as to what raw honey really is.

Simply put, raw honey is any honey that hasn't been heated or put through ultra-filtration equipment. As a general rule, large processors heat their honey to a usual temperature around 150F to facilitate easier handling since the viscosity of the warm honey makes it flow better in handling equipment. Rarely is honey heated to 'pasteurize' it as so many think - but that is another column.

In any event, commercial processors usually run the honey through filters that remove micro crystals of sugars, yeasts, pollens and other microscopic materials. This gives the honey a crystal clear appearance on the shelf and effectively removes the chance of crystallization for as long as several years.

Meanwhile, raw honey is NEVER heated beyond a slight warming of the supers with light bulbs or from being placed in a warm room. The honey is extracted, strained, sometimes allowed to settle and then bottled. The straining is done with sieves about as porous as you kitchen stainer and is done to remove wax flakes, smoker ash, bee legs and other extraneous materials. In no way does this straining affect the taste, nutrition, color or properties of the raw honey.

'Really Raw Honey' OTOH, has taken the public ignorance about raw honey characteristics and implied that a better product is obtained by allowing the beekeeper to extract and bottle directly without removing debris. For this slovenly practice, the woman who run RRH (really just a bottling processor) to create an illusion of health and benefit by giving you what really amounts to crud in your honey.

All of this is fine - if the consumer is fully appraised of the facts. Unfortunately, that is never the case. Buy RRH if you want to at their outrageous prices, but ask any beekeeper you might know to just give you some of his/her cappings and save yourself a bundle. Heck, just eat the cappings, skip the honey, and really get healthy.

BTW, the woman that owns RRH doesn't produce a single drop of honey or even keep bees. She buys her bulk honey from a half dozen or so beekeepers in upstate NY. Of course, they get better than wholesale for their honey and they don't have to do as much labor because their sell it without straining. Good deal for them, good deal for her and you'll have to make up your own minds about whether it's a good deal for you...