> > We also need to be aware that this is different for every different
> > honey! An extreme example.... we have a honey here that after heating to
> > 80°C and allowed to cool slowly (2°C loss per hour for the first few hours),
> > has almost no measurable HMF!!!  (we're talking < 1mg/kg - HPLC method).
>
> HMF is only an indicator, and it is often used as a red herring.  We must not
> let our tools become idols or an understanding of one tiny aspect of the
> problem cloud our vision of the whole.  HMF is a quick and dirt tool to detect
> gross damage.  It has its flaws, since some hones naturally have high HMF.

Allen, you grabbed the detail and missed the message.  I could have cited any
one of a number of examples of specific component behaviour in a specific
honey, but chose HMF because it is so widely discussed.

The point is still that the real, measurable changes that happen in honey,
increase in speed with increases in temperature (apart from the killing of
yeast - as pointed out by Bob) - but are still occurring at hive
temperatures.  In fact hive temperatures (we data logged over 38°C in honey
supers) are too high in my opinion for long term storage of honey.  6 months
at these temperatures causes far greater change than 5 minutes at 63° e.g. an
order of magnitude difference for colour change.  And this is a real problem
for producers in warmer climates.

Most statements about "lack of heating" in their honey come from people that
don't actually have any other point of difference in selling their product.
Most (but certainly not all) producers/processors don't cause a significant
degradation in the quality of the product from heat alone.  Certainly not the
damage that used to occur back in the days before pumps, capping rendering
systems like spin floats, plate heat exchangers for flash heating etc. Today
I believe far more damage is done by microfiltering the flavour and
microscopic particles out, and as Allen said, (and I am in complete agreement
with him) it is no longer honey.

But this is a feature of the "generic honey" menatlity market in the USA.
Very little difference at the supermarket level, almost no creamed honey at
all.  If, as pointed out, North Am honeys are mostly fast crystallizing, then
you have been painted into a corner by the promotion of  sparklingly clear,
light coloured, liquid honeys, devoid of all pollen, flavour and turbidity -
and the holding up of these as the ideal.  Then to achieve this "ideal"
product in the mass market, you have to ultra filter, ultra heat treat
etc.....  Your marketers have done you no favours at all.

In this greater picture, of a difficult market, the constant referring to
"heat treatment" as the main point of difference indicates to me that the
average honey marketer does not have a clue about the real potential
differences of the honeys that can be produced from his/her hives, and how to
go about promoting/marketing them.  To further make generalized, sweeping and
incorrect statements regarding "heat" only furthers my belief in their lack
of understanding of the true qualities of their product.  Check out our
website for further insights into what we think about honey.

I need to now take a very carefull climb down off my my soapbox..... before I
fall off!  (or get pulled off.......)  :-)

Cheers,
Peter


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New Zealand Fax 64-3-324-3236,  Phone 64-3-324-3569
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