Thanks, Alan, for making clear something which I should have mentioned
originally -- the various organic standards I referred to virtually
necessitate the packing of honey straight from the extraction plant.  This
means that if you want an attractive retail pack with a long shelf life, you
need to "cream" it.  And it also means (as Alan says) that unless you
have a really big work force, machinery and shed, you can only pack
small amounts, since once the stored, bulk honey granulates, you
wouldn't be able to re-melt it for packing and still call it organic.
 
I'm interested in your comments, Alan, regarding sales of granulated
honey in Canada.  When I left Canada about 14 years ago, liquid packs
made up most of the retail market.  In New Zealand, on the other hand,
virtually all retail honey was creamed.  In the intervening years, there has
been an increase in liquid packs here, especially in specialty lines.
Obviously there has been a change in Canada as well.
 
David Goble says in his posting that "the International recognised
process is to only heat the honey to 60 degrees centigrade."  I think we
need to be careful here, since as far as I know there isn't any
internationally recognised standard for honey other than FAO's Codex
Alimentarius (which I believe is just a recommended uniform world
standard).  The Codex doesn't set any standard for honey heating, since
of course the only way you can tell after the fact whether the honey has
been heated is to look at chemical changes in the honey itself.
 
HMF and diastase are the two main constituents which are usually
analysed.  Both of these change in relation to both heat and time.
According to the literature, you can in fact heat honey far higher than
60degC, provided it is for short duration, and not have a pronounced
affect on either HMF or diastase levels.  It is my understanding that
honey is quite often flash-heated at temperatures up to 78degC in the
production of filtered, long shelf life liquid retail packs.