REAL honey!

[PhenoMenal]

can I just say that for anybody who has read this thread and been inspired to buy some honey from the supermarket .... DONT BOTHER !!!! You've completely missed the point! :smile:

If you've ever squeezed a fresh orange juice for yourself you'll know how much better that tastes than orange juice from the supermarket - even 100% juice. It's basically the same sorta deal with REAL honey (unprocessed and still in the comb) as opposed to PROCESSED honey that you buy from the supermarket.

And even if you buy 100% organic untreated honey you'll be missing out on half the fun if there's no comb/wax :smile:
Even the feeling of driving a spoon through the wax is nearly enough to send a shiver of delight down ones spine :smile:

DO YOURSELF a favour and seek out some HONEYCOMB, you won't regret it, and remember it never goes off so you can take as long as you like to eat it - if you can hold yourself back :smile:

 

[zymos]

Maybe I'm the voice of dissent here, but when we kept bees, we strained OUT the wax! Cause I don't want to eat it-it may be "edible", but IMO it just gets in the way of enjoying the honey.We simply crushed up the comb, stuck everything in a colander, and let gravity do its job for a couple of days.

But if you are buying comb honey, then seeing that in there may be a mark of authenticity....

BUT, you know...beekeepers who specialize in comb honey use those standardized Langstroth hives, and they buy the comb itself, premade, and all cut to fit. It may be made of beeswax to start with, but it has been purified and maybe even bleached and made in a factory in a mold-the bees just filled the cells up with honey.

Real honeycomb, from a top bar hive, where the bees actually chewed the wax and spit it out and formed the cells themselves right there, is almost always amber/yellow colored.

 

[PhenoMenal]

Maybe I'm the voice of dissent here, but when we kept bees, we strained OUT the wax! Cause I don't want to eat it-it may be "edible", but IMO it just gets in the way of enjoying the honey.

But for the vast majority of us who've never had the pleasure of experiencing honey out of the comb the wax is a fun novelty - right down from pushing your spoon through it to chewing it as if it were chewing gum :smile:
I can see how you'd want to get rid of the wax in commercial/large production conditions, but personally I LOVE the wax, and the whole natural naturalness of it[tm] lol, even though I end up spitting it out/discarding it I still love chewing on it a bit first :smile:

 

[Guest]

Star thistle honey great too.

I also use almond butter & honey on toast.

 

[HotCha]

PhenoMenal is right that eating honeycomb is novel, and the wax is fun to chew. zymos is right that beekeepers install manufactured wax "templates" that the bees build honeycomb on.

If you really want to use your honey, honeycomb is not the way to go. To me, it's like buying wet buds, why do you want to pay for all the extra weight?

There's absolutely nothing wrong with "processed" honey that PhenoMenal is badmouthing. "Processed" in the honey world means that all of the bee parts and wax and junk are filtered out, the honey is pasteurized (an important step for infants, the elderly, and people with compromised immune systems) and blended to create a consistent product. You should not look at processed honey as an inferior product, it is not.

Honey varies profoundly from hive to hive, hill to hill, season to season. Commercial honey has to be blended to create a consistent tasting and looking honey.

Honey that has not been pasteurized is called "raw" honey. Honey that is made from only one kind of plant is called "single source" or "single nectar" honey. The most common forms of single nectar honey in the U.S. are clover and orange blossom.

I've tried a million single source honeys, mint, watermelon, tangerine, buckwheat, sourwood, tupelo, blueberry, raspberry, I could go on... I think the best tasting, most interesting honey comes from trees.

Raw honey that is produced in the area where you live is said to help with allergies as a pseudo "immunization" against local plants because you ingest pollen from the plants and whatnot. I don't have plant allergies, so I can't say from firsthand experience, but I have hippie friends that think it works great.

Crystallization in honey occurs when the moisture content of the honey is too high and the water starts to separate out. If ignored your honey can start to ferment and taste funky. To de-crystallize your honey, just throw it in the microwave for a minute.

Honey is a fantastic product and if you don't have any at home, you should be exploring it. Besides beekeepers need our help! Honeybees are facing all kinds of challenges right now including parasites, fungus, and disease. Buy honey from your local farmers, you're doing the all the farmers in your area a favor, not just the beekeepers.

 

[teddybud]

honey bee pollen is really good for you too

 

[Verite]

Does it really have big big taste and a big big bite?

 

[genkisan]

Honey is also the only food that NEVER spoils.

 

[gizmo]

well folks i tried honey for the first time today
yes it was from the supermarket(where i live there's no beehives i know off lol)
have to say it was as sweet as hell and damn enjoyable
if the honeycomb stuff tastes better than the tin i had then i got something to look forward to

 

[GR8shoeBaDizzle]

that looks hella good yo

 

[Sammet]

Honey is also the only food that NEVER spoils.

Yea they found honey in the pyramids that was a few thousand years old and still edible I think?

Pretty cool stuff

 

[Guest]

phenomenol - great thread. i enjoy honeycombs and raw/unfiltered honey myself. i almost always use honey as a sugar substitute. i also take a daily supplement called queen's delight (royal jelly/bee pollen/propolis) that i get at durhams bee farm (http://www.durhamsbeefarm.com/) whenever i place an order i always get a honeycomb too. i enjoy to spoon off a chunk and chew it then spit out the wax.

tracy

 

[Guest]

Can ya use that instead of molasses???

 

[marx2k]

Can ya use that instead of molasses???

For sweetening, not for watering

 

[PhenoMenal]

HotCha,

There's absolutely nothing wrong with "processed" honey that PhenoMenal is badmouthing. "Processed" in the honey world means that all of the bee parts and wax and junk are filtered out, the honey is pasteurized (an important step for infants, the elderly, and people with compromised immune systems) and blended to create a consistent product. You should not look at processed honey as an inferior product, it is not.

:smile: ..... I have just three words - COMPARE THE TASTE !!! :smile:

I've never 'badmouthed' processed honey anywhere in this thread, all I've said is that honey fresh from an untreated comb tastes sooooo much better (I would never eat supermarket honey straight out of the jar with a teaspoon like I do with honeycomb for example - and especially not in the quantity that you can see in the first post, that was in one sitting), plus you get the novelty of the wax

 

[Sammet]

Here's my favourite honey. From New Zealand - Tawari honey

http://www.airborne.co.nz/Tawari.htm

 

[NOKUY]

hey we dont need to argue about honey...I like all of it processed or not.

for peeps like yummybud the supermarket "honeybear" is the only "honey" they will ever get.

The honey I mostly get is from Ambrosia Honey co.
which is pure honey from colorados western slope, it's raw and unfiltered, and does contain bits of beeswax and pollen.

I'd like to try any and all varieties of honey that i can tho...I've had raw honey comb in Alaska that is considered "fireweed honey" (fireweed doesnt flower long) ...lighter than some honey, but delicious.

 

[pseudostelariae]

you really can't argue the taste of unprocessed foods. around here there is plenty of little farms producing organic and raw dairy products, veggies, honey, even meat. i'm not a big meat eater but raw butter and honey is the best! one of these days i'm gona make my way back with a glass bottle of raw milk before they outlaw it ..thats right, the Mennonites are being hassled for producing raw milk. lame.

 

[NOKUY]

heres a link that has ambrosia honey co. stuff .

ambrosia's honey is high altitude (over 10,000 ft) wildflower honey

http://www.madhavahoney.com/ambrosia.htm


The bees must fly an average distance equivalent to three times around the Earth in order to gather one teaspoon of honey. Please enjoy their precious gift

 

[Guest]

For sweetening, not for watering

For sweetening of course

Hi Pheno!