# So is this what raw honey is supposed to look like?



## crunchy_mama (Oct 11, 2004)

I just bought some organic raw honey and the texture is totally different than the raw honey I had been buying. It is more of solid, like lard or margarine consistency and is opaque. So, to me it is easier to use because you can spread it and it isn't as sticky. The taste seems sweeter, but less sugary if that makes sense. Dh says I was ripped off that he's seen honey right out of the hive and it looks like the amber colored sticky liquid variety that is sold in the store. So, what gives, any honey experts out there? The brand was YS Organic Honey.


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## mama_b (Dec 14, 2004)

Sounds right to me. That's what the raw honey I buy looks like.


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## Attached Mama (Dec 4, 2005)

My mom and dad have both had bees. Honey out of the hive is usually warm and warm honey is runny. cool honey chrystalizes. set it on the back of a warm stove or some other warm place and it will turn runny again.


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## crunchy_mama (Oct 11, 2004)

Thanks mama for your speedy reply! Hopefully some others can weigh in explaining the difference!? On the jar it states that it isn't processed like traditional "raw" honey, of course that means little to me as I don't know much about it!

Also, I am wondering how do they determine that it is organic? How can they control where the bees go? Do they have to just have so many acres of land with organicly grown plants for the bees to pollinate.


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## crunchy_mama (Oct 11, 2004)

Attached Mama- So, why is it then that usually honey from the store is runny and not warm? Do they do something to it to keep it that way? Personally I like the more solid consisitency.


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## Attached Mama (Dec 4, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *crunchy_mama*
Attached Mama- So, why is it then that usually honey from the store is runny and not warm? Do they do something to it to keep it that way? Personally I like the more solid consisitency.

good question - i have no idea








I'll ask my mom - maybe she will know...

as for "organic" honey, that one puzzles me too. I think bees travel quite far for their pollen. but again I don't know - will ask my mom on that one too. I should talk to her later and then I'll post again. Might not catch her for a while cause my sis just had a baby last night


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## mama_b (Dec 14, 2004)

That's a good question about the organic honey. About why the other honey is runny, I believe it is because it is filtered. I may be wrong, but I think the solidity comes from the bits of honeycomb that are in the honey that aren't filtered out.


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## *Jessica* (Jun 10, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mama_b*
That's a good question about the organic honey. About why the other honey is runny, I believe it is because it is filtered. I may be wrong, but I think the solidity comes from the bits of honeycomb that are in the honey that aren't filtered out.

I think this might be right but I'm not sure. My grandfather has honey bees (and the most delicious honey....yum!) so I'll ask him the next time I see him.


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## momto l&a (Jul 31, 2002)

Honey if kept to cold or hot crystallizes.

Set the jar in some hot water till it goes back to it runny state.

I buy raw honey by the gallon









The darker the honey the better it is for treating burns.


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## liawbh (Sep 29, 2004)

Honey will also crystalize if it gets a crystal in it, like from already crystallized honey, sugar, etc., or even a crumb can do it.


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## tboroson (Nov 19, 2002)

"Pasteurization" of honey causes it to be less prone to crystalizing. That's why regular grocery store honey is amber and runny and takes a long time to crystalize. (I put pasteurization in quotes because it doesn't do a darned thing to kill microbes, 'cause there ain't any in there in the first place. So, "pasteurization" is a really deceitful term here. It seems to imply to people that such honey is "safer", when really, it's just more convenient.)

Raw honey begins to crystalize pretty quickly. The longer it's from the hive, the thicker it is. If you buy the commercial brand "Really Raw", it's thicker than peanut butter. What I buy from local farmers is somewhere between slightly amber colored and thicker than regular honey but still pourable, and pale yellow and too thick to pour but it still fills back in the space when you spoon some out.


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## kalisis (Jan 10, 2005)

Not to hijack your thread, but what about creamed honey? Where does that fit on the spectrum?


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## crunchy_mama (Oct 11, 2004)

Ok I may or may not know what I am talking about but.... I have seen honey that is old and crystallized, this does not look like this at all.

tboroson- mine isn't the really raw brand, but is that same consistency.

creamed honey... hmm, that sounds like what mine looks like


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## Gale Force (Jun 15, 2003)

It does sound like OP is talking about creamed honey.

I have no idea where that comes from, except of course that it somehow comes from bees.


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## Annabel (Jul 15, 2003)

Creamed honey is just honey that has been beaten so it is full of air bubbles and gets thicker, right? I've always wondered about organic honey, too. For some reason I always picture the bee keepers spraying the bees with pesticide as they fly back to the hive


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## folkypoet (Apr 23, 2004)

Here's a great site that lists the different types of honey, including liquid honey, naturally crystallized honey, whipped honey, etc. And here's an interesting reply from an aviary about "organic honey." After finding a great honey cookbook, I've been on a sort of honey kick for the past few weeks.


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## milk_maker (Jun 24, 2004)

There's a Honey Guy at our local farmer's market and he sells a variety of different honeys. They range from thick spreadables to the bottled runny varieties. I've sampled just about everything on his table







:

I talked to him one morning about organic honey and he said there's no way to have organic honey. I don't remember the exacts, but something about the flowers and not being 100% on what flowers they were using. He also said, the darker the honey, the older it is and the more like molasses. He dates his honey like wines.







I like the newer, lighter honey and let me tell you that his Banana Blossom honey is to DIE for!

I don't know why one honey is thicker than the other and why yours would be so thick. I didn't like the thicker honey when I tasted it because I wouldn't be able to use it in my tea. All his honey was raw.


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## mamaMAMAma (Nov 20, 2001)

I get raw honey at the farmer's market as well (seems to help with my allergies). Anyways, it is quite pourable . The get about 16oz at a time and its usually gone in 2-3 weeks but I didn't notice any crystalization. So are the thicker honey better? I'll check it out this weekend.


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## krankedyann (May 28, 2005)

Your honey sounds right on.

The honey on the shelves in the store that's liquid has been heated and filtered. Raw, unfiltered honey is exactly as you have described. The pourability of the 'clear' honey comes from the filtering, but filtering also removes a lot of beneficial properties. And, of course, pasturization also kills a lot of the benefit.

I also prefer the raw, unfiltered honey. Easier to work with, and I love the taste.


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## crunchy_mama (Oct 11, 2004)

krankedyann- I agree with you after doing some more searching. It isn't creamed honey I have, but unfilitered.


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## Mirzam (Sep 9, 2002)

It sounds like to me you have raw *unheated* honey which is the only honey I will buy. Not all honey labeled raw is unheated -- Really Raw brand is as is, YS Honey, my personal favorite, also is. Unheated honey contains an insulin-like substance that is produced by the bees when collecting nectar. The insulin-like substance converts 90% of the carbohydrate in nectar into enzymes that help digest, assimilate and utilize protein. Once honey is heated over 93º F the insulin-like substance begins detrimental alteration and is destroyed at 100º F. Pasteruized honey, that is honey heated over 104º F is radical sugar.


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## rootzdawta (May 22, 2005)

I love the Really Raw brand honey too. We tried to make honey wine with a different brank of raw honey and it did not work but the Really Raw honey started to ferment almost immediately. That let us know that not all raw honey is the same . . . Really Raw, because it did work, we think is the more intact honey--less is done to it so it has more of the enzymes and good bacteria intact.


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## Mamaperk (May 15, 2005)

Raw honey can be the darker, thinner, liquid honey or the thick spreadable kind that looks more like lard. There is a slight difference in the two, but they are both considered raw (not pasturized or heated to high temps)

Often when honey is extracted from the comb, some heat has to be used to get it out ... even for raw honey. Bees warm the honey themselves so heat doesn't automatically equal bad for honey ... as long as it's only warmed, of course. The solid raw honey is heated with just enough warmth to remove it from the comb. I buy local raw honey - both kinds ... the darker, liquid honey is easier to use when I need to pour honey and the other is easier to spread. The spreadable raw honey quarantees that there is less heat used in the process of extracting from the hive, than found naturally occuring in the bee hive.

The farm that sells us organic grass fed beef also has honey bees to pollunate their organic berries ... and they said they cannot classify the honey as organic because bees are said to forage as much as two miles from their hives, and they only have a half-mile organic buffer between their hives and some of their neighbors' fields.

So perhaps if someone has a very large organic farm, they can certify themselves as having organic honey.


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## folkypoet (Apr 23, 2004)

The Really Raw Honey sounds great. Does anyone know if they happen to carry it at Whole Foods stores, or will I need to order it off their website?


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## krankedyann (May 28, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *folkypoet*
The Really Raw Honey sounds great. Does anyone know if they happen to carry it at Whole Foods stores, or will I need to order it off their website?

They do, but if you can secure it, find a local source. It will be MUCH, MUCH cheaper. If you need a mail order source for it, PM me and I'll give you the info. He can ship it to you. Even when I pay for shipping, it comes out to cheaper ordering from this guy than it does buying it from Whole Paycheck.... er,...... Whole Foods.


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