retorts needed!

[Janemma]

Some friends came round to see my bees the other day and loved trying the honey straight from the hive - however when my friend went home and raved about it to her husband he simply replied that it wasn't 'pasteurized'!!  :roll:  They're coming over for lunch today and I'm not great at quick responses to things and thinking quickly - any quick replies to this?

I have a feeling there was more to his reply than just the fact that the honey wasn't pasteurized ;) 

[BeeHopper]

Some friends came round to see my bees the other day and loved trying the honey straight from the hive - however when my friend went home and raved about it to her husband he simply replied that it wasn't 'pasteurized'!!  :roll:  They're coming over for lunch today and I'm not great at quick responses to things and thinking quickly - any quick replies to this?

I have a feeling there was more to his reply than just the fact that the honey wasn't pasteurized ;) 

He's visited the bees in the past and seemed very interested but I get the feeling that although his wife and I are great friends, we'll never quite click 100% with the husband :(

Your Friend's husband needs to be "educated". Pasteurization is sterilization, we don't do that to Honey, period.  :-D

[mtman1849]

For at least 2700 years, honey has been used by the Egyptians and also by modern humans to treat a variety of ailments through topical application, but only recently have the antiseptic and antibacterial properties of honey been chemically explained. Wound Gels that contain antibacterial honey and have regulatory approval for wound care are now available to help conventional medicine in the battle against drug resistant strains of bacteria MRSA. As an antimicrobial agent honey may have the potential for treating a variety of ailments. One New Zealand researcher says a particular type of honey may be useful in treating MRSA infection

[NWIN Beekeeper]

[...we don't do that...]

We don't NEED to do that!

Its not that we don't, its absolutely not necessary and actually destructive to honey!

Its shows that he has no idea what makes honey have flavor.

I'd be sure to tell him that heating honey turns it into a junk sugar product. (at least excessive heating).

Keep in mind its not worth casting pearls before swine - choose your words wisely and be brief (people tune-out fast).

[poka-bee]

Why would we need to pasturize bee barf?? :evil: Sorry, my 1st reaction to that type of person is to have some fun with em... :roll:  Honey has all those benificial enzymes & antibacterial properties that are killed by high heat, like whole foods, fruits & veggies, yogurt etc.

[Michael Bush]

If you want to ruin honey, just pasteurize it.  If you want to enjoy it, then don't.  No one pasteurizes it, the big honey producers just flash heat it to keep it from crystallizing.  If they pasteurized it, it would not only taste as bad (which it already does) it would turn darker and taste even worse.

The only harmful spores that MIGHT be in honey are already in and on all raw fruits and vegetables and pasteurization won't kill them anyway.  It takes boiling under pressure to kill botulism spores.  Do you pasteurize your apples?  Your carrots?  Your lettuce for you salad?

[sc-bee]

Wonder what they did before Louie Pasture :shock: :-D! Probably eat healthy ;). 

[tlynn]

Ask him if he ever did the pineapple/jello experiment.  Remember that one anybody?  Take canned pineapple and mix it into the jello and it sets up nice and rubbery.  Do the same thing with fresh pineapple and the jello stays liquid.  Canning kills everything live because the product is heated, just like pasteurization, so the enzymes in the canned pineapple are killed and can't break down the protein in the gelatin.  So in the same way all the valuable constituents of honey would be killed if heated too much.

It's about all those great enzymes, nutrients, anti-oxidizing compounds and many others that get zapped if you cook your food.  I eat the majority of my food raw and do a lot of fresh veggie juices, and the difference in my health and energy has been huge in the last few years.  Just tell him to look up Jack Lalane if he has any questions!

[Cindi]

That is crap!!!  Only three words I can say, Cindi

[Scadsobees]

"Its not only pasteurize, it is past your brain!" :roll:

Honey ain't pasteurized. 
The whole botulism only applies to infants that don't have a mature immune system or much gut flora.  And you are not supposed to feed raw vegetables to infants under 9Mo old either for the same reason, since botulism is a soil bacteria, and this applies only to the botulism bacteria, NOT the botulism toxin which occurs in canned veggies. 

But most babies can't chew raw veggies, and I don't think that I want to meet one that can....
Honey is only a problem in infants because it was convenient to dip the pacifier in honey to get the baby to take it.

I used to think that honey was pasteurized too.  Mostly because of the warnings and misinformation about babies.

Rick

[KONASDAD]

Tell your frind to find some pastuerized honey. Wish'm luck!