I will tell you what choices we have made.

We call honey raw if it has never been heated above 100 degrees.  We figure
that honey reaches that temperture in our hives, but have never really
checked.  We do heat granulated honey to that temp., and then hold it there
for a minimum of 72 hours, to dissolve most natural crystals.  Because of
the long hold time we charge more for raw honey.

I call 'pasturized' honey that has been heated to 190 degrees which is, I
think, the minimum temp. for milk pasturization.  We do not pasturize any of
our honey and we tell our customers that.  Commercial operations I have seen
routinely run honey at that temp.

Our 'processed' honey is heated to 140 degrees and held there for no fewer
than 15 minutes and no longer than 30 minutes.  We use double-walled tanks
and change the water to cold to quickly drop the heat.  We bottle at 120
degrees or lower.

We are comfortable with these definations and our customers also appear
comfortable.  Fewer than 5% of our customers ask for their honey granulated
(not spun) as they consider that 'proof' that it has not been heated.  We
sell that at the same price as our raw.

Hope this helps,

Lloyd

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