Bee Honey

What oil? Which vinegar? What about sugar?
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Post by CurlyGirl »

Wow, Saiva! Thanks for all the tips... you've been very helpful! (I'm so glad I live in the EU!) ... Where did you find that out?
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Post by Saiva »

I just reeeally like honey!! 8)

And there's a lot of beekeepers where i live. My cousin is one of them, I just talked to him. He found out about the EU rules when he started to produce honey. :) (since he has to follow them too)
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Post by CurlyGirl »

Ah, I see. Your cousin keeps bees? Brilliant! Now and can go out and buy some more eucalyptus honey in full confidence!
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Post by Chin-Chin »

Thank you so much! So you think that within the EU, honey is raw if not labeled otherwise? That's so cool!
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Post by Chin-Chin »

I finally asked the guy at my local organic store about honey. He actually has been out a lot on the field collecting honey and putting them in pots.

He said that asking if organic honey is heated is like asking if organic fruits are genetically modified. In other words, to qualify as organic honey, it cannot be heated. For him, it would be processed honey if it's heated.

He says that most beekeepers that he knows do not add anything else to their honey, but of course, having the organic label just means that there's a lot more control throughout the process. So yeah, that's pretty reassuring.

Also, he says the consistency is not an indication of whether it's been heated. The honey is always liquid when it's collected and starts sollidifying almost immediately. The consistency and the color depends on the age of the honey, the type of the pollen, etc. At Bio Canal, which is a rather big organic store next to my place, there's at least 30-50 kinds of organic honey.

So much fun! Maybe I'll go collect honey on my next vacation!
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Post by huntress »

Well...Chin-Chin, some organic fruits are genetically modified. Take for example, bananas. They are genetically modified to be seedless. So far I've never eaten organic bananas that contain seeds. The only time I've eaten bananas with seeds are forest bananas.

Just to let you know, in case you are un aware and concern about it. :wink:
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Post by Chin-Chin »

Really? I've seen seeds in the middle of the bananas, although they are quite small. You would probably know better what natural banans are like, coming from Malaysia (just stereotyping :wink: ).

But I do find it quite outrageous that they would do that without knowing the consequences of such fruits.

However, I do notice that non-organic fruits are generally sweeter because they've been bred/genetically modified to taste sweeter.

There's a difference for me between genetic modification and cross-breeding for better fruits which has been done for centuries. I'd like to get some more clarification on this issue...
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Post by CurlyGirl »

Yes, as Chin-Chin said, there is a difference between hybridisation (which humans have been doing since the beginning of agriculture almost 15,000 years ago) and genetic modification (which requires a lab of scientists tinkering with the genetic material of the plant, and is a recent development).
From ancient times up until the recent past, farmers grew the plants that produced the best fruit and vegetables. They collected seeds from the best of the crop for the next year and shared left over seed with the community. This practice ensured that only the nutritious, pest resistant, disease resistant varieties were cultivated. Only the strong were allowed to survive. This is how we have obtained the several varieties today. In a word, this is sustainable agriculture. With the advent of genfood and seeds, the genseeds are collected and have to be returned to the corporation from whence the seeds originated. Chem companies have patented Mother Nature. She can no longer ensure survival of the fittest. And we as cultivators and caretakers of Her goodness cannot carry out Her Will. We have lost our connection to the very thing that sustains us and ensures our survival. (Wilson, Center for Food Safety)
... the above is from: http://www.odinic-rite.org/Guardians/genfood.htm. I'm not sure about the deification of 'Mother Nature' in the passage (doesn't do much to enhance the argument), but it partly illustrates the quantitative and qualitative differences between GMOs and hybridised crops.
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Post by Chin-Chin »

If you live in France, I would have recommended you a few. But I don't know what the varieties are in California, although I would imagine there is a lot of great honey! There was another thread about honey that I read, can't remember if it's on American varieties...

I also developed a profound aversion against white sugar: I never put any in my coffee even (before I was on Wai's diet), and who would put sugar in his/her tea? Not a Chinese anyway!

You can also consider Maple syrup in fruit salads. They are expensive, but so delicious! By the way, have you tried honey in blender cocktails? I personally like the rock solid kind.
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Post by Maya »

I'm a little confused. We buy honey from our town's beekeeper and our honey is never solid - it's always liquid. We always buy different kinds of honey, but I don't remember that any of them was ever that solid, always more liquid-ish. Does this mean taht this honey is not raw? My dad says it's 100% natural. Help!
:oops:
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Post by Christina »

Hi Maya
I would go to the bee keeper and ask how he extracts the honey. You could pretend that you are interested in bee keeping which might get you the most honest answer. See if their is any heating involved. You want honey that has been processed below 115 degrees Fahrenheit. Maybe it's 119, not sure. How much does the honey cost. Raw honeys usually are way more pricey than the regular kind. Although, I guess in rural areas it could be modestly priced, too. You also want to know if the person feeds his bees sugar, which is commonly done, to take more of the honey for more profit. Some also might use some chemicals or so. It's just good to get organic/biological standard raw, unheated honey. In the US we have this brand that I love called Really Raw honey. You can google it.
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Post by Kookaburra »

Is bee pollen included in the sample diet, or is it just the honey?
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Post by RRM »

Maya wrote:We buy honey from our town's beekeeper and our honey is never solid - it's always liquid.
My father kept bees,
and always applied a cold distraction method (manual centrifugation)
At first the honey is always liquid,
but with time its gets solid, which may take a few months.
Kookaburra wrote:Is bee pollen included in the sample diet, or is it just the honey?
We dont consider it to be a food.
More like a natural medicine.
And you dont eat medicins (natural or not) for food.
A study showed that pollen may contain up to 188 kinds of fungi and 29 kinds of bacteria,
which may trigger all kind of responses from the body.

(Black, Jacquelyn G. (2004). Microbiology. John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 0-471-42084-0.)
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Post by Kookaburra »

RRM wrote: At first the honey is always liquid,
but with time its gets solid, which may take a few months.
Are there any differences in nutritional values, enzymes, etc between solid and liquid honey? When selecting one to buy, I guess there are no advantages/disadvantages whether it is solid or liquid?
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RRM
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Post by RRM »

Kookaburra wrote: Are there any differences in nutritional values, enzymes, etc between solid and liquid honey?
There are hardly any nutrients in honey,
so no, it doesnt make a difference.
I guess there are no advantages/disadvantages whether it is solid or liquid?
Exactly.
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