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 ...
Yes, I think local honey would be the only thing to trust for the allergy reason and that it is real honey.
Time to set up a few hives again....except with our Texas drought....until that is over, all our insect and plant life is suffering.
How do we know?
That’s my issue, if everything that identifies this as ‘Honey’ has been removed, you could literally be eating anything. All we have to go with is what is written on the label. I need to check what I have in the cabinette with this list.
I can see filtering the refuse out; I mean I’ve seen raw honey with bee parts floating in it (legs primarily). I can deal with that being removed.
Just a definition tampering.
Ummm, what? Honey dude makes no sense.
When the bees make honey they start with nectar with a high moisture content. They then place it in cell and fan it with wings until the moisture content drops. the "honey" is then hydrophilic, meaning it will draw moisture from anything that comes into contact with it., including any living cell, bacteria, mold, etc. In other words, any organism that might rot the honey is immediately killed by dehydration.
That's why it never goes bad, Truly one of natures most astound materials from an astounding animal.
Cool. Thanks for the info.
from back when SNL was funny.
Watch out, someone will probably call you a liberal for saying that.
No, you are not correct.
Bees work their butts off and during the nectar flow have the capacity to make amazing amounts of honey.
The way honey production is increased is to relieve the bees of the necessity to make wax. Modern bee keepers use rectangular frames with a wax insert in the middle. The insert is embossed with the precise dimensioned hexagonal outline of the comb. The Bees draw out the comb to the depth of the frame that happens to be the optimum depth for storing Brood or honey. The removable frames filled with honey, not the brood frames, are removed and the wax cap is removed with a hot knife that removes only the cap leaving all the honey and the wax cells (the comb). The frames are slung in a centrifuge, mine was hand cranked, and the honeys is removed.
The frames with the wax cells intact are reused the next season, and several more. The ever diligent, and quality conscious bees will make repairs as required except this time the bees are spared all the work and expense of drawing out all new wax. I can’t remember the cost of wax but I will say one pound of wax requires the nectar for 10 pounds of honey.
A bee keeper is intrusted with the welfare of his hives. He watches them and is aware of their well being. If they are low on stores or starting out new from a swarm, feeding them will be of assistance. Sugar syrup is good if no old honey from past years is available. As a very long time observer of bees I am certain that one can not feed enough sugar syrup to make any substantial quantity of honey. A newbie starting out and not knowledgeable might think his feeding syrup is doing a good deed. But unknown to him, when there is even the slightest bloom, the bees will be at work collecting the nectar that is the real source of the honey that just keeps piling up in the frames as the spring progresses.
When there is bloom, the bees will find it. I’m not sure a situation exists where they can bee more bees than resources. They will just fly further. Given the difficulty in protecting bees from disease and parasites now, the question of not enough forage is not at all probable.
Man, you are so right. Honey should be illegal.
As a very long time observer of bees I am certain that one can not feed enough sugar syrup to make any substantial quantity of honey
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I don’t understand why you would say this. The liquid that comes out of a flower is obviously far less sweet than sugar syrup. Therefore it would take much more flower nectar to make a given quantity of honey than it would to use sugar syrup . And this does not even account for the distances traveled. A barrel of sugar syrup could be set a foot from the hive.
My kids don't even like honey...they get so annoyed when I make them drink honey tea. But I do keep em healthy, every winter. Even better if you put some cinnamon extract in it too...cinnamon is anti-bacterial as well and tastes oh-so-good.
Think I'll go have some right now.
You might think so but it doesn't work. i have fed my hives and when the bees have a nectar source they go to the nectar, they don't cluster around the sugar water exclusively even when you stick it in the hive. but i don't feed any more. gone "red state". they either make it on their own or they don't, but i also don't take near as much honey off the hive as i used to either.
see? they keep more of what they make, and i don't have to provide as much support. we are all happy.
I put honey in green tea. I don’t use cinnamon, but I use turmeric on chicken. I forget what that is supposed to be good for.
How do you feel about fermented cow’s milk?
I don’t want that. Just about time to make some chicken I guess...with Turmeric of course.
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