Hi Folks,
Just thought I?d start a conversation on the differences between organic, raw and processed honey. They are terms that are often used and have slightly different meanings depending on where you come from. Let me start by saying that this should be a positive discussion where ideas and viewpoints are respected. I am sure that most members would classify themselves or feel comfortable in one of these areas due to their own situation or beliefs. As long as we keep that in mind, it could be an interesting area of learning.
The reason I raised the topic was due to a conversation I had two days ago with a former work colleague. This person has bought my honey for quite a few years and her young family love it. Last week she used up her supply and had to purchase some from the supermarket. The kids took one bite of the toast she made them for breakfast and refused to eat any more. I just explained that all honeys are different and her kids have developed a preference for the style of honey that my bees produce.
This got me thinking about the situation in my country in relation to the sale of honey. I would like to speak on each area briefly and would hope that you guys can correct me where I get it wrong or add to the conversation by informing us all as to your own local interpretations, standards or opinions.
First of all is the commercial setting where large companies process and package big quantities of honey for the supermarket trade. In this setting, honey from a variety of sources is often blended together so that a consistent colour and flavour profile is produced. I can understand the logic of this as many customers would expect that the honey they buy from a company this week will be the same as what they purchase in a months time. It?s a bit like buying a hamburger from a large takeaway franchise. Buy a burger today from a store and then travel a thousand miles to buy a burger that tastes exactly the same. Much of the commercially processed honey has been pasteurised by heating to kill any wild yeasts and to ensure moisture content is at a safe level for packaging. The heating of the honey also allows for fine filtering to remove pollen, wax and any other debris. The resulting honey is also less prone to crystallisation than unprocessed honeys. We have had issues in the past where some companies had been adding imported honeys and/ or fillers to bulk out their products. The general public we?re not overly happy when they heard about this and hopefully this issue has been rectified. It has often been said that processed honeys that have been heated, lack the nutritional qualities of raw honeys but I don?t have enough knowledge in this area to comment. Some of you may be able to expand on that idea.
I personally produce raw, unprocessed honey in my setting. All of my honey is cold extracted and run through two sieves before being stored in food grade containers. I don?t use chemicals in the hive and never feed the bees any sugar water or supplements. My bees are never moved and rely totally on what the season brings. The big disadvantage to this method is that every season is different and in my area, the flowering cycle for trees is always longer than one year. A tree that produces exceptional honey both in quality and quantity, may only flower every three years. In some years, there may not be any major flows at all and I may end up with an average of about 45 pounds of honey per hive. A few years ago I didn?t take any honey from the bees for a couple of seasons due to drought and bushfires. That, thankfully is not a regular occurrence. The honey that the bees produce is therefore variable in flavour due to the variety of nectar sources. Most of my honey crystalises in the cool weather and needs to be slowly warmed before bottling. It?s just my preferred method and suits my situation. I am lucky to have that choice. Many beekeepers don?t have a choice due to their location or the pests and diseases they have to deal with.
To be certified as an organic beekeeper, there are many hoops that you have to jump through. I looked into it a few years ago and found that it would be very expensive to transition into and my location would not allow the certification to take place. Every country has its own strict requirements and I?m sure that members would be interested in hearing about some of them. Even though I?m surrounded by natural forest, I?m situated too close to civilisation for certification to be considered. Chemical use, hive materials, timber finishes, bee feeding, extracting processes, honey storage materials and methods etc, etc etc. The list just goes on and on. I think as beekeepers, we would love to be able to market our product as being organic but the reality is that only a small group who are determined, keen for the extra work and have the location that fulfils the criteria will be able to achieve it. We would love to hear from some of you who have been down this path. Tell us about your experiences along the way.
Please add your thoughts and tell us of your own experiences. If anything that I have written is not quite correct, please comment there as well.
Cheers
Les
