My Dad was a commercial apiarist and I have kept bees myself as a sideline
hobby.
I do not know where your info about honey being crystallized "within hours"
after packing came from, But I know this is not true for most honey.
The ambient temperature (80 to 120 summer) in Yuma AZ allowed me to de-cap,
extract and bottle my honey without heating it. My 6-frame extractor machine
would hold about 20 gallons of fluid honey and I did not bottle that often
waiting for the 'foreign material' to settle out. Maybe weeks would go by
before that task was done.
I had jars of my honey that were years old and still 'fluid'. I had some
that was maybe 6 months old and crystallized, sorry I do not remember what
plant fields they were into.
The difference was the environment and plant pollens/nectars they were using
at that time. I do not understand the chemical process that crystallizes
honey but do know it is caused from evaporation of the water content
allowing the multiple sugars and enzymes to change to a solid state.
The clearest, least viscous, most expensive honey I produced was from citrus
tree nectars. These would not crystallize for over a year in jars at home
being used almost daily.
Commercial honey still in the comb is not heated either because the comb
would melt. I have also seen very old capped comb honey crystallized.
Organic honey, to me is a conundrum and is probably a false statement. My AZ
bees would travel up to 50 miles bee-line for their harvest. Proven by
actual experience. There is no way, except on a remote isolated island, of
having the organic title applied. One bee keeper from TN said he figured
his bees only traveled about three miles. Can you imagine a TN farm of more
than 3 square mile area?. Swarming bees will reconnoiter up to 25-30 square
mile areas for new hive locations.
Moisture(%) 17.2
Levulose(%) 38.19
Dextrose(%) 31.28
Sucrose(%) 1.31
Maltose(%) 7.31
Higher sugars(%) 1.50
Undetermined(%) 3.1
pH 3.91
Free Acidity 22.03
Lactone 7.11
total Acidity 29.12
Lactone/Free Acid 0.335
Ash(%) 0.169
Nitrogen(%) 0.041
Diastase 20.8
U. S. Dept. of Agriculture Technical bulletin 1261, "Composition of American
Honeys" by J.W. WhiteJr., M. L. Reithof, M. H. Subers, and I. Kushnir, 1962.
Love
Bob
Adageyudi
Staya Udanvti
*************************************************************
> Wow Charles!
> Where did you get your information on honey?
Many different sources over many years...
> I hate to correct you but ALL honey is a liquid or fluid at room
> temperature until it crystallizes from water evaporation.
True enough, but this generally happens within hours of when the honey
is packaged, so anyone 'buying' honey will buy it in crystallized form.
But you are technically correct... :)
> Buying local honey from a small beekeeper will almost assure you it is raw
> and probably un-filtered.
Actually, even many small producers heat their honey, because it is much
easier to work with (packaging, etc) than raw honey. But if you buy it
direct, at least you can ask questions, and actually see their operation
(so if you use your eyes, you'll know whether or not they're lying about
whether or not they heat their honey).
> I can almost guarantee you most of the commercial honey you buy in the
> grocery store has been filtered and heated simply to enhance the looks and
> ease of container filling processes. Real honey has bits of wax, propolis,
> pollen beads, and bee body parts when centrifugally extracted.
Yep - but as I said, 'Really Raw' and 'YS Organics' are the only two
commercial brands that I know of that are really raw. So, for anyone who
doesn't have the option of a local producer, it is the next best thing...
Charles
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