Hello Peter and All,

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Bob Harrison wrote:
"raw honey unheated in any way"

I sell a small part of my crop in health food stores. I find those people very knowledgeable and try to educate their customers (unlike grocery stores). Not wanting to give away all my secrets I will share a few.

Peter wrote:
this is totally unrealistic. will the honey not be uncapped with a hot
knife? 

I use a stainless steel flail uncapper which does not use heat.


will you throw it away if it sugars in large containers?

Once gone to sugar you simply heat and sell to grocery stores which could care less.

 what about
honey from melting wax, throw it away? 

I drain or spin all the honey out of my wax. Melter honey is feed to the bees. If you are a large coop member it is blended and fed to humans.

I am all for raw honey, but some heat
is necessary in most beekeeping operations. as long as the honey doesn't go
over 130F and is not held at high temps for long periods

All of my health food stores trust me  not to heat over 120 F. About a month ago I started to have to exchange quite a bit of honey from health food store shelves. I reheat to 120 F to clear . and then send back to the health food store. A real hassle but what will need to be done until the new crop comes in.

 The requirements for most health food stores is local honey, not heated over 120 F. and only strained.

  Peter wrote:
, I don't think it
is hurt by moderate heat. can you prove that it is? why create unrealistic,
unreasonable standards that most people cannot meet for no good reason?

I charge   extra  for my trouble and many health food stores are glad to pay the higher price as long as they get what they want. Over 100F. kills the yeast which does not seem to bother the health food stores. Over 120 F. changes honey in several ways. I do not sell my honey as *raw honey* to health food stores only as strained (eliminate bee legs etc.) , Not heated at all for most of the year and NEVER heated over 120 F if heat is needed.
The honey I sell to my other markets is processed differently.
Sincerely,
Bob Harrison

  Ps. to figure out why  the bees can keep their honey liquid a year (when the beekeeper can not) is the secret to selling a unheated honey to the health food stores.    Hmmm.