> That is somewhat odd.  Is the chloramphenicol in the honey as a result of
> the buckwheat...

Buckwheat -- the kind that is produced in Canada --  honey is *very* dark
and *very* strong.  It is so strong, in fact, that most people do not like
pure BW honey.  Pure Canadian BW smells like a hog barn and looks like
well-used differential oil.  However, when blended with lighter, milder at
about 10% of total volume, or even less, many more people find the BW
flavour enjoyable.  But, even a 10% blend is still quite dark and strong.

The dark colour and strong flavour offers packers an irresistable
opportunity.  Since any honey that is blended with BW is overpowered by the
colour and flavour of BW, an inferior blending honey will not be as
noticable, unless it is *really* off.  Therefore, BW blends tend to contain
melter honey and other seconds that come a packer's way that are otherwise
hard to market for a good price.

Although the Chinese produce some very nice honey, not all of their honey is
pleasant or light in colour.  A lot of Chinese honey has come into Canada,
in recent years, and, from what i've heard, some of it was not all that
light or good-tasting.  Moreover, it is well-known that some of it had
chloramphenicol traces.   I wonder if some of it was blended with good black
Manitoba 120mm buckwheat honey in hopes of hiding it's character.  I have
never heard of chloramphenicol in any honey that has not actually, or
probably, come from China.

allen
http://www.honeybeeworld.com/diary/

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