Gentle Folks:

Speaking of contaminated honey, I did not know it would hit me,
personally, today:

I took down a feral hive in the back of a bowling alley yesterday.  The
owner swore he did not spray the bees ever and he had alleged they just
moved in this spring; he said this to reduce the fee--it would be a small
job.  When I opened up the God’s closet, hidden inside what used to be a
window AC unit, now covered up with a rotting plywood, the colony looked
about three years old, judging from the various colors of the comb; when I
confronted the owner about this fact, he, without acknowledging the number
of years they had been there, paid me whatever amount I thought was fair.
Later in the evening, however, when I went over there to retrieve the box
I had left to collect the bees, one of the employees told me horror
stories: he had nightly sprayed the bees all sorts of chemicals
imaginable: gasoline, paint thinner, insect spray—-I just do not recall
all the stuff he had used in the hope of eradicating the infestation.  He
admitted that the bees had been there for the last three years, in fact!

Despite such chemical baptism, none intended for mites, the bees fared
well [maybe fared better than otherwise]: they had packed the cavity with
slabs of combs loaded with honey.  In fact, I was able to strain two
gallons of honey, plus a quart and half.  The dark honey, mostly from
sumac, tastes exquisite, and still does, till I heard the story.  Now I
feel I am in deep doo-doo.  When I gave some honey-comb to yet another
employee earlier, the guy, who had also sworn about non-chemical spray, he
just loved the sweet honey, an incident that strengthened my non-
contamination belief earlier.

How does one go about analyzing a sample?  Where should I send it to, Belt
lab?  If found contaminated, what is the use of such honey since feeding,
even after harvest, will further contaminate the juice?  What is the long
term chemical interaction inside the honey?  Left untouched, does it get
worse or ameliorated?  Would the carcinogenic chemicals turn the "mead"
into a killer moonshine, something like White Lightening?  I am willing to
drain it into the septic if found polluted.  It’s a good thing that I did
not give that stuff to any.  Yet I must confess it tastes damn good.  What
say you?


Thanking you in advance,


Yoon

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