Don,Waldemar, Bob et al.

>in barrels to the Alberta Honey Producers Co-op in Spruce
> Grove.
> The co-op, I believe, pasteurizes it as a matter of course.

Actually not that much honey is "pasteurized" by the Co-op any more. I know 
purists may call this splitting hairs, but most honey is heated only enough 
to filter and pack. Quite a bit less than called for when pasteurizing. 
Consumer demand.

Canadians love creamed honey and we seem to be finding a growing market in 
the US for it. Canola works very well for it.

>I remember canola/rape honey from Europe.

I know we've had this discussion before, but canola & rape are like Coke & 
Pepsi.  Pretty close, but with some major differences, so the names are not 
really interchangeable.  The resulting honey is different as well.  Although 
canola honey granulates relatively quickly, it is nothing like that 
collected from rape and the granulated texture is different as well.

>Some say the honey yields have become less

Farmers here have access to over a 120 registered varieties of Canola, with 
about 10% being delisted and new ones added annually. The last thing on a 
plant breeders mind it seems, is nectar production.  There are some 
varieties which blume long and produce outstanding nectar flows and others 
on which I know my hives would starve if that was all they had access to.

>Canola honey is a hard sell to packers in the U.S.

Thankfully for us, only if you're an American. Your packers love "Canadian" 
canola honey, because there is no longer any rape grown here.  American 
farmers apparently still interchange the two and the resulting honey has the 
less than favourable qualities discussed by previous posts.

David Tharle
Ardmore, AB
Canada 

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