Where to get raw honey?

Where to get raw honey may be confusing; don't start with the grocery store. Commercial bottlers have to heat it, spoiling the nectar and raising the GI alarmingly.

Most foods and not just meat and dairy products have a shelf life; once a leaf of lettuce is plucked from the plant, a grain of wheat is milled or a nut is cracked, oxygen begins the work of decay. Try slicing an apple in half and watching how long it takes for the cut surface to start going brown.

Raw honey is an exception; jars of the nectar of the gods located in the ancient tombs of pharaohs were still edible when they were found. You just have to keep air, light and heat away.

Wax cappings keep the air out

In the hive where it's dark, the temperature is maintained below 40^oC and sealed by the "cappings" honey is preserved indefinitely. The moment the beekeeper removes the comb from the box, nature begins to do its work of decay; it is the fundamental order of the universe.

We can mitigate against light, heat and air but nature will seek to do what it was designed to do.

Honeycomb

Raw honey still in the comb remains first choice but for various reasons it is very expensive; and rightly so.

• Natural honeycomb

Commercial beekeepers and bottlers who are dealing with tons of honey every day are more or less obliged to use heat to prevent it from becoming viscous. Foreign material has to be strained out.

So where to get raw honey may seem a lot of trouble; it's not. Remember that raw and unprocessed it will keep for decades, even centuries in a sealed bottle; buy enough for the whole year.

Start by typing beekeeper and your location into Google. Suss out a small local apiarist.

Next find out when the chief honey flow begins. If possible try to get your raw product from the second or third harvest. Phone and find out if you can fill a dozen of your own glass jars straight from the bottling tank; that will save you some money.

Questions to ask

You may have to visit a number of beekeepers over the years; some are more fastidious than others about producing truly raw honey. Casually look around for an electric knife and perhaps carefully frame a question about decapping tools; they may be sensitive to such searching inquiries! Forks and rollers use no heat.

• Hot knife vs fork honey decapping

Ideally one wants pollen from local plants to remain in the raw honey you are purchasing; it helps with allergies.

But to call it "pure honey" the beekeeper really should remove all foreign particles including the pollen. A series of very fine filters are used. You don't want to find a dead bee in your bottle!

There is a compromise. Small keepers are able to let their honey settle for a few days before bottling. Foreign material like bee parts, bits of wax capping and other junk float to the surface; and can be skimmed off. The pollen remains in the liquid.

Get to know your beekeeper

Small beekeepers are generally obliging people. They are unlikely to refuse a request for a dozen of your own jars straight from the bottling tank; particularly if you pay in hard cash!

Once a year having to locate a source of raw honey need not be so onerous. In fact you may find yourself wondering about keeping your own beehive in the back garden.

• How to start beekeeping
  

Can diabetics eat raw honey?

There is no simple answer to the question about diabetics eating raw honey. We all react differently to carbs and should test ourselves.

The research^[1] shows that even very large amounts of raw honey (25 tsp) will lower fasting blood glucose; but will raise the HbA1_c. However no one in their right mind would eat half a cup in one day.

I am prediabetic and limit myself to certainly no more than five teaspoons in one day; that's enough to get the benefits without the down side of raising the A1_c.

• How to test for prediabetes
  

Where to get raw honey?

Where to get raw honey should not be too difficult. Start by googling "beekeeper and the name of your district."

Is eating raw honey safe?

Personally I would not touch runny commercial honey from the grocery store. It is likely to have a high GI; and is after olive oil the second most adulterated food in the world. Of course there are exceptions; those with a high fructose content will stay liquid for much longer.

• Honey Glycemic Index

Raw honey is perfectly safe to eat but diabetics and the obese should limit the load; perhaps three teaspoons per day initially.

There is an erroneous belief that babies should not eat raw honey; based on six cases of botulism in recorded history. The usual source of the bacterium is common dirt; it was not proved that the toddlers did not come into contract with earth in the garden.

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