It really matters little if "real" honey is filtered or not, since what
will be purchased is what the purchasers want.

If you have ever sold honey in the US, you know that it is  the duty of the
seller to convince the buyer to hand over their money for your honey rather
than that found at the supermarket. You "educate" them by showing that
"raw", unfiltered honey has a bucket-load of crap floating around the top
(but probably describe it a bit differently). You show them that dark honey
has a stronger (more flavor) taste than water white honey. You explain that
honey granulates, especially if not pasteurized and is what most of the
rest of the world thinks is the natural state of honey.

It takes little persuasion to convince those of a certain age in the US
that you have a good product. But the younger folk, who are used to always
liquid, nothing floating around. and relatively cheap honey are suspect.
Add mis-information like it cannot be fed to children (always have to
explain that) and stuff (like that noted by Kim) which disparages all
honey, you charge more, all make it more difficult to sell.

So how do we get them to buy our honey from a shelf in the supermarket? The
answer is simple- advertise. But what honey producer wants to reduce the
amount of filtered, pasteurized, nice looking honey they sell by the
gazillions to promote dark,raw, floating unmentionables, unpasturized,
starting to crystallize  honey?

Go much anywhere in the world and your DRFUUSC honey would be at home in
the local market. We have programmed the consumer in the US to reject that.
So let us all ask the National Honey Board to drop those big companies that
fund them and listen to us, the "real" honey producers. sarc/

Then again, as most of us do, we can claim the niche market that exists for
our honey and capitalize on it. And through a good product (my honey does
not have much stuff floating around as I filter it with a mesh filter) you
will sell all that you can produce. With great marketing, you could even
end up like a Maine company (Bert's Bees) and go national, and that was
with a beeswax hand cream whose formula every beekeeper knows. Nothing was
new, only the name and marketing. Or Manuka honey.

Bill Truesdell - slogan (because of all the crap floating in the honey)
"The only honey with crunch!"
Bath, Maine

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