> In particular, the Demeter standard said that you couldn't
> heat the honey above 30degC during extraction and processing, which
> was more than a bit ironic since brood nest temperature is 34degC.
>
> The BioGro standard said you couldn't heat the honey above 35degC
> during extraction and processing.  This would also cause a problem
> when you wanted to melt out drums.
 
You have hit the nail on the head here.
 
After 20 plus years of experimenting with repackaging honey, we have
concluded that the _only_ way to package raw, unheated honey is by
packing it once -- while it is still liquid and without filtering.
 
This has been a real disappointment, because we have a customer base
that is divided into those who want sparking clean honey and those
who want it 100% natural.
 
We finally decided that we had to offer two separate products: honey
that is heated and filtered and honey that is strained only.
 
The problem is that those who want it natural *can* tell the
difference.  We have a German friend who wanted honey for a folk
cure and he returned the honey we gave him that had been melted and
repackaged (carefully -- at lowest possible temperatures) because it
didn't work.  The replacement honey which was from the extractor
gate passed the test.
 
There is a real conflict between the demands of the mass market, and
the needs of real honey lovers.
 
Of course this is a problem for those mass packers who claim natural
raw honey, because they pretty well have to purchase in drums and
repack using heat.  Unless they receive it still liquid, they will
have to heat it above hive temperature.  As far as I can see this
market is only available to the beekeeper or those who take early
delivery in bulk and are prepared to package a whole years supply at
once.
 
Perhaps an alternative is to only soften the honey in a warm room
and transfer it as a slurry, well below the 95F maximum.
 
Packers don't want to admit defeat in this market, and try to cut
corners and bend definitions.  They fool the majority, but most
aren't prepared to do what is required to produce the bona fide item.
 
> The good news is that even though
> you heat honey in hot rooms or chests at temperatures way above that
> amount, if the honey is allowed to run out of the drum (and the hot
> room/chest) when it becomes molten, it never gets close to the
> temperature in the hot room/chest.  The bad news is that when
> Townsend and Adie carried out a temperature test on such honey in
> 1953, when the hot room/chest temperature was raised to the 57degC
> normally used, the molten honey running out of the hot room/chest
> was measured at 38degC, 3 deg higher than the BioGro maximum.
 
Precisely the problem.  The* time *that the honey is at that temp, is a
huge factor too.  In batch processing, the honey has to be held in a
vat waiting for the rest to melt and fill the tub.
>
> The only standard which made sense in this regard was the IFOAM one,
> which allowed honey to be heated up to 40deg C during
> extraction/processing.   It was still a bit of a compromise for
> large extraction facilities however, since it was below the
> recommended temperature for spin-float cappings separators like the
> Cook & Beal.  This wouldn't be a problem with the new style cappings
> separators like the Cire-Press, which squeeze the honey out of the
> cappings.
 
I believe that the spin float can operate at lower temps -- low
enough to keep below 95F, but the heat exchangers used have surfaces
that necessarily have to be several degrees (usually more) above the
allowable, and thus some of the honey that is in contact  is
overheated by these standards, even while the mass temp remains in
the ballpark.
 
The spinfloat also exposes the honey to and incorporates air which
can produce changes that are undesirable.
 
> The final problem I identified in relation to honey heating for all
> of the standards related to retail liquid honey.  For all honeys
> except those with a high levulose content, I felt it would be
> difficult to maintain a decent shelf-life unless the honey was
> flash-heated above the limits set in the standards.
 
That is if the honey has to be liquid.  In Canada, I believe that a
large percentage of the honey sold is solid.  Our consumers accept
creamed and granulated honies.
 
We sell *only* granulated honies except during extracting.
 
Disclaimer:
I am writing here only about the Canadian honies I have worked with.
 Admittedly there are some honies in the world that naturally stay
in liquid state and for these the situation is completely different.
 
 
FWIW.
 
Regards
 
Allen
 
W. Allen Dick, Beekeeper                                         VE6CFK
RR#1, Swalwell, Alberta  Canada T0M 1Y0
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Honey. Bees, & Art <http://www.internode.net/~allend/>