We think of honey as nutritious and pure, but it ain’t necessarily so. Most of us want to trust others, and then we get burned and keep our guards up and become cynical. Recently my emotions oscillated back and forth and I still don’t know where I come out.
I produced just under 5 gallons of honey last year, which should have been sufficient to carry me through the winter and spring until my next honey harvesting sessions. But it tasted so good and so many wanted a bottle that I ran out of honey early spring and decided to buy some to carry me over.
I bought a container labelled “North American Honey” which tasted ok, not great. (stage 1 – trust, does not contain honey from China).
One day I scrutinized the label more carefully and read the statement “May contain product of the U.S.A and Canada”. This caution surprised me – I thought it would say “Contains product of the U.S.A or Canada”. To me “may contain” means it may or it may not contain. (stage 2 – cynicism).
So the question for me was what percentage if any of the honey was from North America. I visited the packager’s website (to keep my life simple I will not identify the producer) and it extolled the wonders of their honey. I did some googling and found they had some years ago filed a petition against alleged honey dumping from China. My hopes began to rise – these must be the good guys. (stage 3 – neutral)
So I emailed the packager and, to my pleasant surprise, within a few days received a reply that said: “The North American Honey you purchased is 100% USA. Our labels allow us to use Canada Honey in the product, but we have not done so for a few years.” Great news, but why not make this clearer in the label by saying “Contains product of the U.S.A or Canada”. Anyhow, issue resolved as far as I was concerned. (stage 4 – trust, again).
I must clarify my antipathy for honey from China – not because it is sold at a very low price which undercuts U.S. producers – that’s life (actually I have very strong views on the trade deficit and will one day get onto this topic). No, the reason is there are health concerns about Chinese honey as detailed in the American Bee Journal (“ABJ”), June 2011 p.593. So how can you tell from which country the honey originates? By analyzing the pollen in the honey – so called melissopalynology. And what would make it impossible to determine the country of origin? If all the pollen in the honey is filtered out. California and Florida passed laws prohibiting the removal of pollen except where this was necessary to eliminate foreign inorganic or organic matter. Well, recent tests found that a lot of honey sold as U.S. honey has been filtered to remove all the pollen – see ABJ June 2012 p.554. And, guess what, the packager which I have been following is named as one of the producers which has filtered out the pollen from their honey. (stage – heading to cynicism, again).
Now the producers have reasons for filtering out the pollen – the honey looks clearer because it has been filtered to remove particles which make it cloudy, and is less likely to crystallize, etc. But, given all the concerns about country of origin, why not leave the pollen in the honey so everyone knows what they are buying?
Now you may say I am unduly cynical but my experience goes back to a time when my family represented in South Africa one of the best known Bordeaux wine producers, which seeped class and prestige from every pore. Until one day when the wine inspectors made a surprise visit, found cheap wine from another country in their cellars, and instantaneously this famous house was scandalized and destroyed. So I want to trust all the representations and soothing explanations about the origin of some purchased honey, but am not there yet.