Which brings us to the issue of HONEY JUDGING CRITERIA, and how clear the
honey has to be, devoid of any trace of anything in suspension.
The honey at our vey small apiaryy is cold-extracted and lightly filtered -
anything but 'Show Quality'. We declined to enter any honey in a recent
regional Agricultural and Horticultural Show where bigger processors, using
organic principles (minimal heat) to extract their honey, may have felt
piqued that the out-of-area judge decided that not one of the exhibits was
worthy of being awarded a Show Champion ribbon. These same honeys are sold
world-wide because of their very organically certified production
techniques.
Large honey producers, using heat to extract and pack product QUICKLY, have
certainly skewed the consumer's idea that the only good honey is the crystal
clear variety of 'runny honey'. However, the slow food movement is helping
to re-educate the consumer about the nutritional value of honey with
particles in suspension; about the value of the crust that forms, about the
need to accept, and how to use crystallised honey etc.
This is all well and good for future consumers, but present-day consumers,
and almost all of our friends and acquaintances still prefer 'runny honey',
and it is a fine line to produce liquefied honey without overheating the
primary produce. Recently, we harvested,, and cold-extracted a small
quantity of a mid Spring variety, and bottled it within 48 hours. A further
48 hours later, it had all finely crystallised and solidified! Thank
goodness for Summer coming along!
There is now a voluminous body of science to back the thousands of years of
pre-science belief in the health-giving benefits of honey and bee products,
so the industry has a good back-stop against the juggernaut of mass
production and honey substitutes. There are also a multitude of
internet-savvy honey sellers and buyers, and the small, organically inclined
producers are doing a great job of selling the old-fashioned values of honey
on-line and are to be commended.
Overall, packaging laws need strengthening (not just for honey) in
Australia, and probably elsewhere. Honey substitution is alive and well,
here in Australia, where a 'she'll be right, mate' attitude by quarantine
services and law-makers seriously impinges on maintaining as much of a
disease-free status as we have previously enjoyed for our diverse honey
production.
We do, Dan, indeed, need to be mindful not be be agents of our own demise!
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