When customers pick up a jar of honey, they expect a pure, natural product made by bees. Unfortunately, much of the honey sold in grocery stores today doesn’t live up to that expectation. Highly processed and sometimes adulterated honey has become common. Many large-scale honey producers overheat and ultra-filter their honey. Ultra-filtration removes pollen, which is honey’s natural proof of origin. Without pollen, honey becomes difficult to trace and, in some states, may no longer meet the legal definition of honey.
Excessive heating also destroys beneficial enzymes and reduces many of the qualities people value in real honey. What remains may look clear and pretty on a shelf, but it’s far removed from the raw product bees produce. Some commercial honey is diluted with inexpensive syrups like corn, rice, or beet sugar. These products can be sold cheaply, undercutting local farms that produce real honey using ethical, sustainable practices.
If you buy honey from the supermarket, check out this video (click the image to view.)
You might be surprised at the number of brands whose honey sources are untraceable because of ultrafiltration. Here at Blue Moon Meadow Farm, our honey is filtered only enough to remove visible particles. It contains only what the bees have added!
