Raw vs Pure Honey

[BurleyBee]

While trying to find what is the best wording to put on my Honey Labels, I?ve become confused.  I?ve read articles and searched forums, but can?t get a clear description of what is raw and what is pure.  Some state that raw honey is straight from the extractor.  Just today I see a reddit post of a frame of honey and it says 100% pure honey.  Well I?m told pure honey is filtered many times, then heated.

Maybe I?m being too picky but I want to label my bees product correctly.  I extract, then double sieve.  Some may run through a paint strainer before double sieve.  I don?t heat my honey.  So label Raw?

[.30WCF]

Have you looked at fda?

https://www.fda.gov/files/food/published/PDF---Guidance-for-Industry--Proper-Labeling-of-Honey-and-Honey-Products.pdf

https://www.naturalproductsinsider.com/claims/fda-issues-guidance-proper-labeling-honey


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[Hops Brewster]

"pure" honey simply means there are no added ingredients like HFCS.  It could be heated, highly filtered and otherwise highly processed.  Usually won't crystallize.  Grocery store honey.

Raw honey has not been heated beyond the lower temps required to make it flow through the equipment.  Sometimes strained to get the legs and wings out, but not filtered.  Often crystalizes quickly.  Beekeeper's honey.

[.30WCF]

What makes one crystalize and one not?


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[JurassicApiary]

What makes one crystalize and one not?

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Although honey and HFCS are essentially made of the same type of simple sugars (fructose and glucose), their ratios are different.  HFCS owes its crystallization resistance (in part) to its corn syrup origin (HFCS is a mixture of corn and potato syrups), which is a crystallization inhibitor.

As to raw honey and crystallization, heating raw honey alters enzymes, amino acids and chemical bonds, which affect its crystallization properties.

There is a nice article called "The Chemistry of Honey" from Bee Culture magazine here:
https://www.beeculture.com/the-chemistry-of-honey/

[.30WCF]

What makes one crystalize and one not?

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Although honey and HFCS are essentially made of the same type of simple sugars (fructose and glucose), their ratios are different.  HFCS owes its crystallization resistance (in part) to its corn syrup origin (HFCS is a mixture of corn and potato syrups), which is a crystallization inhibitor.

As to raw honey and crystallization, heating raw honey alters enzymes, amino acids and chemical bonds, which affect its crystallization properties.

There is a nice article called "The Chemistry of Honey" from Bee Culture magazine here:
https://www.beeculture.com/the-chemistry-of-honey/

Ok. I might be misreading then. I read this as No HFCS, is heated, usually won?t crystallize. Grocery store honey. VS Likley no additives either, low heat if any, can crystallize.
Heat and filtering being the main differences. 

"pure" honey simply means there are no added ingredients like HFCS.  It could be heated, highly filtered and otherwise highly processed.  Usually won't crystallize.  Grocery store honey.

Raw honey has not been heated beyond the lower temps required to make it flow through the equipment.  Sometimes strained to get the legs and wings out, but not filtered.  Often crystalizes quickly.  Beekeeper's honey.

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[JurassicApiary]

That?s funny, I was actually thinking about crystallization due to cooling rather than heating for HFCS.  Then I addressed heating of raw honey...Too much smoke in my face today...  Yes, HFCS will crystallize, but typically after raw honey due to its higher resistance to crystallization caused in part by the corn syrup.


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[Oldbeavo]

Honey is a saturated solution, saturated solutions will stay clear until a trigger is added eg in science the Copper sulphate saturated solution, you hang a piece of string in it and crystals grow on it. The string is the trigger.
Raw honey has a lot of triggers in it, pollen grains, little pieces of wax, and the odd crystal, so candying will occur.
If you take the honey and filter it to take out the pieces and then heat it to dissolve any honey crystals then you are back to a saturated solution with no triggers, therefore extended shelf life for the super market.
The speed at which honey candies is due to the different ratios of fructose and glucose in the nectar. Canola will candy in the frames in weeks.

We only put the honey through a wire kitchen sieve to take out wings and legs and some bits if wax, and when bringing it back from candy to package we don't exceed 40 degrees C. We sell it as raw honey.

[Ben Framed]

Oldbeavo thanks for the hands on explanation of experience. Appreciated. Thanks

[.30WCF]

Makes sense. Thanks.


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[sc-bee]

Yep as Oldbeavo said above. My questions is are all you guys too young to have made rock candy on the string suspended in the super saturated sugar solution? I guess you are... bunch of young CHAPS

.30  you wanted rally start  a  war... ask what the definition of LOCAL HONEY is 

[.30WCF]

Yep as Oldbeavo said above. My questions is are all you guys too young to have made rock candy on the string suspended in the super saturated sugar solution? I guess you are... bunch of young CHAPS

I did the rock candy as a kid.

.30  you wanted rally start  a  war... ask what the definition of LOCAL HONEY is 

I never would have thought as that being something to debate. I would assume it would be honey from....

Well now you have me rethinking this.
I was gonna start with, oh, I don?t know, pick a number, say 45 miles from a spot. 

Who?s spot, my (the customer?s ) spot or the bee keepers spot?

What if the bee hives get moved around to a orchard in the spring and then 30 miles west to soy beans in the summer? Does that ?45 miles? then get oblong and become a 45x67.5 mile area? Even more, is it extra local if it is from the area that those two circles overlap?

What about belts of climate and topography? Where I live, if someone dumped you out of a car after driving you around with a bag over your head, it may be hard to tell if you left the general area or rode in a circle for 6 hours.

The you could probably not notice a ton of difference in the mountains just west of me from,say Georgia to Va or W Va.

Interesting. I never thought of that before.

I?m gonna go with, as a general consumer, if it?s within an hour drive if my house, it?s local to me.



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[.30WCF]

And why do my apostrophes keep changing to question marks&


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[The15thMember]

And why do my apostrophes keep changing to question marks&


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It?s some sort of rendering issue that happens when you use a mobile device. There is a thread under tech support that explains it in more detail, I believe.

Yep as Oldbeavo said above. My questions is are all you guys too young to have made rock candy on the string suspended in the super saturated sugar solution? I guess you are... bunch of young CHAPS

.30  you wanted rally start  a  war... ask what the definition of LOCAL HONEY is 

FYI, I also have done rock candy many times and I?m 24.

[sc-bee]

Yep as Oldbeavo said above. My questions is are all you guys too young to have made rock candy on the string suspended in the super saturated sugar solution? I guess you are... bunch of young CHAPS


FYI, I also have done rock candy many times and I?m 24.

 15th...I am not talking about that pop rock candy they sell in a bag... Just kidding.... I wish squirrel nut zippers, chick-o- sticks , and Boston Baked beans were still the same as before...

[amymcg]

There is no faster way to pull out your dental work than Mary Janes or squirrel nut zippers


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[Oldbeavo]

We work our bees up to about 80 miles from home, so do not make a local claim. but as people travel to farmer markets we ask where they live and quite often one of the 4-6 varieties of honey on the table will be local to them.
People often want local honey for hay fever control, so I will ask them at what time of the year do they get their hay fever, and quite often it is Spring and when the Ryegrass flowers. So I will recommend a honey that is collected in Spring when the pollens that worry them are at their highest.

[Seeb]

So I will recommend a honey that is collected in Spring when the pollens that worry them are at their highest.

Very cool beavo!

[.30WCF]

It?s some sort of rendering issue that happens when you use a mobile device. There is a thread under tech support that explains it in more detail, I believe.

Remind me to keep my impressionable kids that are learning to read and write off this site then.


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[Acebird]

In most cases raw vs. pure on a label is marketing.  There is no governing body that polices the claims.  Think of all the varieties of honeys.  How pure are they?
What is funny is if you produce raw honey many people will be attracted to it but won't like the impurities or the fact that it crystallizes.  So raw is sold at farmers markets where the people searching for it already know what they are getting.  Pure is sold in a grocery market where the customer expects the honey to stay as it was purchased.  Ultra pure just extends shelf life so in a way it could be older.
So the bottom line is what you produce depends on who you sell to.  Unless you are a con.