Honey … do we know what we’re buying?

[Suffs]

Have you read this?

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2024/n ... icity-test

I buy honey from the garden gates of villagers I know who keep bees and we use this on toast and crumpets etc … but I admit that I usually use a supermarket own brand in my wholemeal bread. The price difference is significant … but I obviously need to investigate what I’m buying.

[Earthmaiden]

You do need to be careful. I knew someone who kept bees and was surprised at how little honey could be harvested if enough was kept for the bees to live their cycles properly without being overfed sugar syrup. Considering the amounts for sale in the shops, this news doesn't surprise me in the least.

As Suffs says, good beekeeping is reflected in the price.

[halfateabag]

I do not buy a lot of honey but recently when in Halkidiki a Greek used to come to the beach infront of the place we were staying and he had a makeshift stall around 6pm and sell 2 different types of honey, the jars had no labels but there were tastings available. There was a light coloured floral one and a much darker pine one which we both loved. He was kind enough to take one of my 500mil empty water bottles and fill it with the pine variety which cost us 4 euros (£3.50). It evokes wonderful memories of a great holiday and it tastes sublime. I will only use it 'neat' on toast. It does not even make it into my salad dressings !

[herbidacious]

I don't buy much either so happy to pay extra and tend to get it from small producers from near our house in Normandy or pick it up when on holiday or a day trip in the UK.
You can only hope they are being honest. There's not a lot else you can do...

This is not to say that I haven't bought supermarket honey for a recipe that requires a lot, on rare occasions. (Rare because I don't often need to do this!)

[WWordsworth]

The one jar I have in my cupboard was a gift from a pal who keeps bees.
It's a chestnut honey and is dark and fudgy.
Fabulous on wholemeal toast with good coffee

[Suffs]

I love chestnut honey

[Seatallan]

We're lucky enough to have this honey produced within walking distance....

https://lowthercastle.org/nlm/lake-district-honey-co/

[scullion]

hmm - they obviously didn't check honey from uk beekeepers who have their hives near rape fields! it looks like lard with crystals and has very little flavour - it could easily be half sugar syrup!
i tasted some from a friend's hives in essex, once, where they were surrounded by rape. even she was scornful of the supers that contained that period of flowering.

[Suffs]

Lots of East Anglian beekeepers are very happy to accept payments from farmers to move their hives to rape fields to ensure good pollination … but there are important techniques to be used to get the best from and for the bees.

I know folk who live in oilseed rape growing areas who swear that eating oilseed rape honey helps them avoid (gay … Grrr auto-correct) hay-fever when the OSR is in flower.

[Pepper Pig]

Gay fever???

[Stokey Sue]

I know a couple who have a business renting out hives to places that want pollinators, not on the large scale of rape seed farms but eco roof gardens on corporate headquarters etc , in many cases I think the hirers take the honey too so they have bragging rights about “our own honey”. My friends’ main side hustle is based on the wax, candles a pond leather polish so far but the business is producing enough honey to sell now - it has taken off a bit more than they predicted.

I’m not really a great honey fan though I usually have a jar from a farmer’s market or similar.

[scullion]

she means hay fever!
a local chap said that his hay fever was cured by my honey thirty or more years ago.
we saw him earlier this year, he hasn't had hay fever since.

[halfateabag]

Leaves hoovered up with the mower, a blocked down pipe cleared of a slurry of 5 years worth of wisteria leaves. and some other leaves swept and collected. A couple of mole hills cleared and dealt with... A very late lunch of turkey and tarragon meatballs with a nice sauce on a bed of rice and various grains and pulses - t'was very tasty.

We had bits of blue sky and it was lovely to see. Now having a light supper of asparagus, bacon in a pitta for OH and a thin bready thing for me. Maybe a couple of HM choc nut biscuits if required.

[miss mouse]

I’m not really a great honey fan though I usually have a jar from a farmer’s market or similar.

Nor am I a honey fan. I have Rowses' cheapest. I expect golden syrup is as good when a recipe calls for 'honey.

[Stokey Sue]

I’m not really a great honey fan though I usually have a jar from a farmer’s market or similar.

Nor am I a honey fan. I have Rowses' cheapest. I expect golden syrup is as good when a recipe calls for 'honey.

Well, I also have a Lidl one for baking
But going off at a tangent - I get a bit annoyed by many “oriental” recipes from Western chefs that use homey where I suspect it’s there for exoticism rather than authenticity. Conversely in her book Asian Green Ching-He Huang uses golden syrup for sweetening everything but never says why she chooses it which slightly annoys me. (I don’t recommend the book, overly complicated and need a store cupboard full of Chinese, Japanese AND Korean ingredients)

[halfateabag]

Ooops, sorry, I am on the wrong thread - forgive me....

[northleedsbhoy]

I’ll put my hands up and admit to no liking honey, well except Lockets when I have a sore throat

I like honey roast ham etc but not in tea, spread on anything or like a friend, straight from the jar.

Cheers
NLB

[mistakened]

My Mother kept bees when we lived in our first house in Guildford, she had a couple of hives at the bottom of the garden. All the local houses had gardens, most had apple trees, we had a lot of blossom honey.
We get orange blossom honey here in Cyprus, definitely a premium product. Up in the mountains they produce the dark pine honey. Neither product is used for cooking

Moira

[Suffs]

Genuine question … is honey not used for sweetening in authentic ‘oriental’ recipes?

Also confused by the thought of honey providing ‘exoticism’.

[Badger's Mate]

I suppose palm sugar, jaggery and honey must all have been used in different parts of Asia, doubtless also other substances I’m not aware of.

I buy the odd jar of honey, always local to us or a site we have visited. It’s never cheap. At gardening club last week, a local beekeeper was selling his for a tenner a jar.