Posted on 11/08/2011 9:14:13 AM PST by opbuzz
More than three-fourths of the honey sold in U.S. grocery stores isn't exactly what the bees produce, according to testing done exclusively for Food Safety News.
The results show that the pollen frequently has been filtered out of products labeled "honey." The removal of these microscopic particles from deep within a flower would make the nectar flunk the quality standards set by most of the world's food safety agencies.
(Excerpt) Read more at foodsafetynews.com ...
As a beekeeper, I can tell you this is not true. Before I can get my honey listed as organic, I must have an inspector make sure there are no chemicals used for a 2 mile radius around my hives. This is not regulated, though, in other countries. The USDA allows other countries to tell us if there honey is organic.
We have lots of bees and bee keepers here in Florida. Got to have them for the citrus groves they ship in bees from all over as well to get the job done. Find the local beeman and plunk down your money for a gallon or two of his finest. The bee people can tell by the color and taste the predominate flower the bees were harvesting but it does get a little mixed. The bees do not realize you only want them to go to the orange trees and not the weeds in the field.
so can’t I just eat a fistful of daisies along with my not-honey?
True; but there is no documented botulism illness from honey. It is a warning because in small amounts it can be found on the top of honey, most likely from dirty containers, not from the honey itself.
Whatever you do, do NOT search the net for allowed food imputirties or what oods are made of. You’ll starve.
Partially correct. If you strain it like I do(and don’t cook it), you only remove wax, bee parts, and large pieces of pollen. In my honey, you can see little specks which are pieces of pollen and minerals.
You are correct with all three statements. I only feed my bees when they are not full strength hives. I do not strip them of all their honey, and I use it at times to capture swarms.
Orange grove owners used to not spray their groves to kill the weeds. One of the dominant weeds in sand and in many groves in Fl is an aster often called Spanish needle. It makes a great honey. I look for areas around orange groves that are not cleared of these flowers so that after the orange bloom they have something else close to feed on.
I alwaays thought being a beekeeper would be one of the worst jobs on earth. But, I never thought about the “perks” — free honey for lunch. Mmmmm-mmmm-mmmm.
NOT GUILTY!!!
Exactly.
Food is not sterile, or clean. However, it IS good. So, if it tastes good to you, even if it is bee-puke or animal hoof extracts, then eat it.
Honey is extremely expensive compared to cane sugar or corn sugar. It is my understanding you can boost a hive’s output by supplementing their nectar with plain old sugar. To boost your honey output you gain more hives, but there is only a finite amount of nectar out there accessible by the bees. So when you reach the point where you have more bees than the land can support, you start feeding them corn sugar. The bees will convert the corn sugar into honey just as they convert flower nectar/pollen into honey
Am I correct on this or what?
“So, are you using Honey Flavored Syrup (such as at KFC, Popeyes and other chains)”
Answer: No.
!!!!!!!!!!! That is sacrilege!!
Honey is the most awesome thing ever. Honey is nature's best kept secret and all around life saver. Not only does it keep forever (and I do mean forever...some honey was found in Egypt that had been buried for centuries; it had crystallized, they heated it up and voila! Honey!), it is an excellent sugar substitute, a great antibiotic, AND it functions better than anything for wound healing.
I have so much honey I'll probably never run out. I will always buy local and always use it for everything.
p.s. Honey and lemon tea is great during the winter months for boosting immunity. Add a little apple cider vinegar and you will live to be 150, I promise!! ;)
Me, for one.
Honey is normally heated to about 120F so it’ll flow. Too much filtering, as you mentioned, removes too much of the pollen and minerals. Whatever minerals removed from honey can be gotten elsewhere. I think pasteurized honey is heated to around 175F after much filtration to remove just about everything but it’s still beneficial.
I didn’t know, quit yelling at me. :-)
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