It is a pretty serious problem. china has be using flavoured sucrose for a while and going as far as to make it very difficult to test for. The issue is that if the honey market becomes uneconomic, the bee keepers go out of business and a massive decline in pollination occurs, so yeah, it’s a fucking big deal.
That’s why I buy my honey from the local apiary.
> Adulteration occurs when ingredients such as water or inexpensive sugar syrups are artificially added to increase the volume of honey.
I get my honey from my frather, who knows a neighbour that has honeybees… he lives 2000 km from me…. at least i know it’s real honey !
( as I buy in 7kg quantities – it’s all hardenned so I know it’s real honey)
LPT for Europeans: If honey label says anything along the lines of “honey procedente EU and non-EU”, that means probably it’s at most partially honey.
And then there is the thing about honeycombs (I think they are called, sorry non-native). Most western beekeepers use a “surrogate” comb based on candlewax for they are cheap (there are also wood surrogates), as it requires less energy for bees to create their own combs thus increasing the yield. The issue is that because the warmth of a beehive the combs melt down ever so slightly so that they pollute the honey with wax, a regular pot of honey can have upwards of 2-5% of wax in it.
Buy local honey!! Honey from Crete May be my favourite
I find that funny, you go to some old person’s stall at a fair or nature oriented tourist destination and you’ll buy a jar for, what, 5€ or 10€? And the taste is unmistakably honey, each location, seller and different type will taste different but it’s without a doubt honey. Of course, no doubt it’s a bit different of a situation when you’re not one of the most southern countries in europe, though I’d imagine culture also has a part in it, from what I’ve seen the northern countries lean much more towards consumption of processed goods, a pretty plastic package with perfect color and neutral tasting honey in a grocery store over an old person on the side of the street.
I buy only local stuff from people that i know have bees. This shit we can buy in shops that says: “Made of honey from inside EU and outside EU” is pure bullshit. If it was real, they would put real source in description.
Real natural raw honey crystallizes and is solid. Not liquid.
13 comments
Oh shit, counterfeit honey! 😮
It is a pretty serious problem. china has be using flavoured sucrose for a while and going as far as to make it very difficult to test for. The issue is that if the honey market becomes uneconomic, the bee keepers go out of business and a massive decline in pollination occurs, so yeah, it’s a fucking big deal.
That’s why I buy my honey from the local apiary.
> Adulteration occurs when ingredients such as water or inexpensive sugar syrups are artificially added to increase the volume of honey.
*Ah sugar, tu-du du-du tu-du, ah honey honey*
–the Archies
I get my honey from my frather, who knows a neighbour that has honeybees… he lives 2000 km from me…. at least i know it’s real honey !
( as I buy in 7kg quantities – it’s all hardenned so I know it’s real honey)
LPT for Europeans: If honey label says anything along the lines of “honey procedente EU and non-EU”, that means probably it’s at most partially honey.
And then there is the thing about honeycombs (I think they are called, sorry non-native). Most western beekeepers use a “surrogate” comb based on candlewax for they are cheap (there are also wood surrogates), as it requires less energy for bees to create their own combs thus increasing the yield. The issue is that because the warmth of a beehive the combs melt down ever so slightly so that they pollute the honey with wax, a regular pot of honey can have upwards of 2-5% of wax in it.
Buy local honey!! Honey from Crete May be my favourite
I find that funny, you go to some old person’s stall at a fair or nature oriented tourist destination and you’ll buy a jar for, what, 5€ or 10€? And the taste is unmistakably honey, each location, seller and different type will taste different but it’s without a doubt honey. Of course, no doubt it’s a bit different of a situation when you’re not one of the most southern countries in europe, though I’d imagine culture also has a part in it, from what I’ve seen the northern countries lean much more towards consumption of processed goods, a pretty plastic package with perfect color and neutral tasting honey in a grocery store over an old person on the side of the street.
I buy only local stuff from people that i know have bees. This shit we can buy in shops that says: “Made of honey from inside EU and outside EU” is pure bullshit. If it was real, they would put real source in description.
Real natural raw honey crystallizes and is solid. Not liquid.
Simple solution, stop importing honey
Support your local pollinators! Buy local honey.