What is Raw Honey?

By Alan Holdich

Sept 13, 2007

Quite some time ago I sat down with a seasoned Bee Keeper and we chatted about raw honey, unfiltered honey, imported honey, and the medicinal value of honey.

During our conversation I learned that “raw honey” was considered by those in his trade to be honey which has not been heated or filtered, at least not heated to any degree above that which would normally occur in the bee hive. Raw honey was also called "uncooked honey".  He said that there were no government regulations that dictated whether a company could call its honey raw or not but that some apiaries chose to label their honey as raw honey and some simply did not.  I asked what would be the purpose for heating honey to begin with and the reply was to reduce the viscosity of the honey enough to permit it to flow through micro fine filtration systems.  I was told that filtering honey would remove the pollen particles which add to the nutritional value of the honey. Straining honey however was used by bee keepers to remove particulate matter such as bee parts, slivers of wood coming from frames as well as other small pieces of debris that find their way into the honey.  He made it clear that filtering was a whole different process than straining, the former was done without concern for the resultant changes to the honey whereas the latter was done only to clear the honey of particulate matter found distasteful to the palate.

I mentioned that some honey I had seen on the natural food shelves was quite different in texture than most of the other honey’s I’d seen, touting to be even rawer (if that is possible) than anyone else’s honey. His reply was a mixture of laughter and cynicism indicating that if people want to eat all the “extra” particulate matter in that then they have the right but it doesn’t add one bit to the nutritional value of the honey.

I learned later that raw honey will crystallize with time and could be returned to it’s more common state by allowing it to slowly warm up in warm water just to the point at which the crystals disappear. The reason raw honey crystallizes is because raw honey is an over saturated glucose solution. 

I came away from this conversation/interview with a whole new appreciation for Honey!