> >I'd be curious to hear people's opinion on how much feed (sugar, HFCS,
> etc.) makes it into honey...and what percentage of feeds should be allowable
> in honey.
>
This is a good question! At first I thought, zero. Then I realized that
there might be a trace of syrup left from the previous fall. In my
operation, it would be unlikely to have any meaningful amount make it into
the honey, yet I'd bet that at least one molecule does.
I'm sure that you've heard about the calculation that you breathe in with
every breath approximately one molecule from Julius Ceasar's last gasp.
Surprising, but not difficult to check the math.
Surface area of Earth = 58 x 10^6 mi, 4 x 10^9 sq in per sq mi, 15 lb/sq in
atm press, 454 g/lb, 22.4 L/ 28g air
So 5.7 x 10^22 total liters of air on Earth, with Caesar's breath by now
thoroughly distributed (except, of course, the carbon dioxide, some of
which is now in every barrel of honey produced).
Caesar's last gasp, perhaps 1 liter x 6 x 10^23 molecules per 22.4 liter, so
2.6 x 10^22 molecules in his last gasp.
So very likely that any deep breath that you take contains at least one
molecule from Ceasar's dying breath.
Since we are discussing contamination, a more disgusting example would be to
think about a singe Tyrannosaurus rex fart. Then think of all the dinosaur
farts ever produced. You are essentially breathing nothing but atoms from
recycled dinosaur farts (although the oxygen, carbon, and to some extent the
nitrogen would have been recycled through plants).
So how about our honey? Let's say that you feed 1 gallon of 2:1 syrup in
fall (about 10 lbs). Let's say that a mere single cell of that is left by
next summer. For rough calculation sake, let's say that there are 6700
cells (1 deep frame) per 5 lb honey. That gives 0.0007 lb honey per cell.
Now let's say that you make a 100 lb honey crop, and somehow manage to also
extract that single cell of syrup honey from last season. Your "pure" honey
would actually be 0.0007/100 = 0.000007% cane sugar.
So, when we say "zero tolerance," would we allow 0.000007% contamination
with pure Hawaiian cane sugar, or HFCS. Zero is zero. However in food,
zero is defined by the limit of detection.
Randy Oliver
Nothing like a bit of math in the morning!
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