Kim Flottum of Bee Culture magazine e-mailed me about yet another new product with "Honey" in large print on the label, but no honey in the actual product. This one is more interesting than many, as they call it "Cane Honey", and claim that the term "Cane Honey", or "honey from the reed" is a "Chinese name from antiquity". The swill being sold is nothing but liquid cane sugar concentrate. http://www.sukkaronline.com/home.html We've shoved the product up against the Wall O' Shame, of course: http://bee-quick.com/wall/sukkar.html And it clearly qualifies as one of the "worst of the worst": http://bee-quick.com/wall/worst.html In regard to the language claim, are there any eastern language scholars on the list who can confirm/deny the claim? I found a reference to a modern English translation of the (Greek) "Periplus Maris Erythraei" (a trade and shipping guide from the 1st century A.D.) that credits the phrase to India as a description of "Sacchari" (cane sugar) from India, but the Chinese character for sugar: http://www.formosa-translation.com/chinese/ss/s257.gif Looks nothing much like the characters for "flower" or "honey" ("flower" on left, "honey" on right, and as shown, the combination is read as "nectar"). http://www.formosa-translation.com/chinese/nn/nzz104.gif The reason why I am so interested in such a trivial detail is that any sort of inherent confusion in the Chinese language between "honey" and "sugar" might explain the distressing regularity with which honey from China is found to be adulterated. :) jim -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and other info ---