SUSSEX BEE FARM

Is your honey raw?

Yes, and no.    ‘Raw honey’ is not defined in food legislation (Honey Regulations 2015).      The term ‘raw honey’ was created by consumers to distinguish between “proper” honey and “supermarket honey” with “proper” honey being of known origin, unpasteurised and only minimally filtered and processed.   So yes, by this consumer definition our honey is considered raw.

 

Large honey producers pasteurise their honey sometimes as high as 80’c thereby destroying the nutrient antioxidant qualities (enzymes, flavonoids, phenolic compounds, vitamins and aminoacids).    They filter it to remove most of the pollen grains and mix different honeys to create a uniformed taste.    

 

We currently have the term ‘raw’ on our labels as this was helpful to our customers a few years ago.   We will be replacing this with ‘unpasteurised’ going forward as there is now a greater public understanding of honey.

Will your honey granulate?

The fact that honey crystalises is a sign of its quality as overheating and filtering destroys the compounds that create crystals.   Ever wondered why supermarket honey stays runny and tastes of caramel?  Because the sugars have been burnt during processing. 

Yes, our Blossom honey will eventually crystalise.   The time it takes for honey to crystalise depends on the fructose to glucose ratio in the nectars, so each jar will solidify at a different rate.  It also depends on the external temperature the honey is stored at.   Less than 14’c will granulate quicker so just keep your jar at room temperature.   If you prefer runny honey just heat some water in a pan, turn off the heat and stand the jar in the water to slowly melt it back to runny.   Its perfectly edible in its more crunchy form.   And please, please, please don’t microwave it. 

Our soft set honey has already crystalised.    It is placed in a machine and churned until it becomes a smooth soft honey that will not granulate further. 

Our heather honey is naturally more of a jelly consistency and will take a long time to crystalise, but will eventually do so. 

Our Borage honey is high in fructose and will take longer to granulate.

Will your honey cure my hayfever?

The evidence that honey cures hayfever is anecdotal, and we say that for full transparency because we aren’t interested in selling you a jar of honey only to be disappointed that it wasn’t a wonder cure.   We’d rather you enjoyed the taste and benefited from the proven health benefits.    

 

Contrary to this though, we’ve had genuine feedback from customers that it has helped their hayfever and other respiratory problems but these honey lovers tend to eat a little everyday, not just when the pollen count rises.   They essentially micro dose the pollens and enzymes, and their immune system and gut bacteria improve overall.  

Why is raw honey not suitable for infants under 12 months?

When honey has not been pasteurised it can still contain trace amounts of the bacteria that causes botulism.  This bacteria occurs naturally in honey because the bacteria Clostridium botulinum is found in the environments where honey is produced (soils and plants etc).  However, because of the acidic qualities of honey this bacteria is prevented from growing and does not cause a problem for adults whose immune systems have developed defences against the trace amounts found.     Very young infants however are yet to develop this immunity and should therefore not eat unpasteurised honey.     There have only ever been a few instances of infant botulism from honey in the UK.  Lets keep it that way!

Is your honey Organic?

Nope, not possible in most of England, especially not Sussex.  Is it natural? Yes.   Does is it have anything else added?  

Of course not; but bees fly for miles so if we put hives on an organic farm they will still visit other non-certified organic flowers.

 

For this reason be wary of honey sold in this country that is being called Organic, especially from ebay and facebook marketplace.    Normally this honey has been imported by the seller which may or may not have genuine Certified Organic Status but more likely is a misunderstanding of the term organic – used to mean ‘natural’.   Having said that, Europe has much larger and higher quantities of organic farms than the UK.   Eastern European beekeepers in particular are highly skilled and have a wealth of farmland available to them. 

I’ve heard you shouldn’t use a metal spoon to eat honey?
Eating honey from a metal spoon is fine.   The origin of the 'myth' is the fact that honey is acidic and so if metal were to be left in it long term some degradation of the metal may occur.