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> From: Allen Dick <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Shelf life of Honey
> Date: Thursday, November 20, 1997 10:52 AM
>
> > There are two factors here.  One is the edibility of honey and the
other
> > is consumer resistance to buying semi-candied honey off the shelf.
>
> And there is at least one more factor -- the integrity of the honey.
>
> Honey that has been heated may not (IMO) still be honey in all senses of
> the word
> ---
> Allen,
I fully agree
One of the healthy components of honey are the enzymes (ferments)
At room temperature they are fairly stable.
At 50-60 C they rapidly disappear.
The quantity of enzymes is expressed as their "diastase number"
Each kind of honey has its own diastase number
Citrus e.g. is extremely low , only 8; heather exceptional high : 64
In Holland heating of honey is seen as a bad practice, although honey
you buy in the shops (even in reformhouses) is heated.
Hobby beekeepers sell there honey to there friends etc., so honey in the
shops
is always imported honey which comes in drums . To liquify cristalized
honey at 40 C lasts too long for the importers.
Long live the hobby beekeeper.
 
Karel Bokhorst
Dutch hobby beekeeper