What is Raw Honey?
Two jars of honey. Same apiary, different months.
It’s been a fun month or so, what with the New Forest Show, Ellingham Show and Romsey show we have met lots of wonderful people!
A common question over that time is what is Raw Honey and why is our Raw (or any other beekeepers Raw honey) better than shop bought generic honey?
Well, our Raw honey is small batch harvested (3 or 4 times over the season), minimally filtered and unheated. We do store our honey in tanks prior to being put into jars. This gives us a chance to remove any fine particles which escaped through the filters which float to the top (and in Spring check how quickly the honey will set). We don’t remove the pollen and fine particles of beeswax as these add to the flavour and nutritional content, plus many thousands take such honey as they are positive is helps with hay fever.
Many generic brands blend honeys to achieve a uniform taste, colour and consistency. This is not a problem; many consumers like to know exactly what they are getting, and this method achieves that. However, the large majority of pollen and wax is removed. We are blessed with some very talented beekeepers locally and nationally. When we are at events and other beekeepers are there, their honey will be equally good, most likely different but equally good. It always good to have a chat with them and share the seasons musings and exchange tips etc. Anyway, back to Raw honey, from a beekeeper’s point of view the only hinderance is convincing those that are not used to Raw honey that variations in colour and taste is a good thing, and that crystallisation is a natural occurrence over time. Many shop-bought honeys are flash heated to slow the crystallisation process down, and by removing the pollen and wax this also slows it down. A beehive is heated by our wonderful bee friends to 35°C, so honey is stored at this temperature in the hive (give or take some depending on the size of the hive). If honey is heated much above 40°C some of the wonderful properties it has are reduced. So, heating honey too much is not a good thing, warning honey in a honey cabinet to 35°C to enabling bottling is a common practise and will have no negative effects. One of my small batches this year had a large amount of pollen in, bees occasionally store pollen in the frames we extract from (in the ‘Super’ frames), this honey was dark already, with the pollen it took on a wonderful colour, and its taste was much stronger than my other batches (picture above…guess which honey that was?) Now I know this honey will be very popular with my regulars, but those not in the know may need a little convincing (taste test always wins them over as it is wonderful!)
To summarise: Raw honey is not heated (possibly warmed to 35°C), minimally filtered, most often not blended (batch harvested), it WILL crystalise. Crystalised honey is honeys natural preferred state but take this as a sign of real honey.
That does bring me onto the difference between Spring and Summer honey, however that’s for another time ;)
