> 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 although, for the masses in this day and age, this may be the
only 'honey' thry experience.  Since the commercial packers who
damage and degrade a great deal of honey in the process of distributing
it are our major customers, I guess we should be careful how much we speak
up on this :(
 
Since darkening is an inavoidable effect of time and temperature,  and can
be very different between floral sources, there are definite limits to how
long a particular liquid honey sample may be kept presentable.
 
> ...If the customers for your honey have not been educated that candying
> is a natural process... Many Europeans appear to believe that candying
> indicates purity but Australians have been known to throw out candied
> honey in the belief it was "off"
 
In Canada, most honey naturally granulates (candies) within days (or weeks
at most) of extracting unless it is heat treated.  Therefore most Canadian
natural honey is solid -- either hard, or soft and spreadable -- by the
time it is consumed.  Many, if not all honey lovers here understand this.
 
Much discussion has taken place on BEE-L concerning these matters and I'll
try to avoid repeating what has already been covered.  It is huge
topic that is not well covered in many books, however a fairly extensive
coverage of this topic can be found here using 'raw honey' as a search key
in the logs.  Also try  'melting', 'heating honey',  'creamed' or
'granulate' as keys.
 
Allen
 
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