Frequently Asked Questions Raw honey

Store your honey at room temperature. Even after opening, you do not need to refrigerate the honey.

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Bee Raw vs. the Honey Bear – so what’s the difference?

Supermarket honey is a blend of honeys from many different countries and floral origins. There’s no way for you to know exactly where it came from. What we do know is that it is processed, heated, filtered, and treated so that it has that familiar color and translucence that we have mistakenly come to know as “honey.” It is not. Real honey is raw honey. It comes in many colors, textures and opacities. Each honey is as unique as its floral source. (And it does not come in a plastic bear.)

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Why does the color of my honey look different than the picture on the website?

Raw honey, like fine wine or pure olive oil, differs slightly from harvest to harvest, and from hive to hive. Colors and textures of each varietal will not be exactly the same for every jar. Also, raw honey crystalizes over time; some honeys crystalize faster than others. The color and opacity of the honey will very greatly depending on when in the crystallization process the photo was taken. If the honey looks clear in the photo, but cloudy or solid on the shelf, that is perfectly fine - it’s just nature taking its course.

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How is Bee Raw “local”?

All of our beekeepers are local farmers who don’t have enough of a demand in their local market for their premium honey (pure, unprocessed, single varietal). In order to sell their entire production, they are forced to sell their honey to big companies at a low price. The honey is then processed and mixed with lower grade product for mass consumption (honey bear honey). Instead, we pay our beekeepers premium prices for ALL of their premium product, and meet the demand for the product both locally and nationally. We also strive to place our honey in its local state, and encourage our retailers to buy their local varietals from us whenever possible.

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When honey gets crystallized, does that mean its “bad”?

NO. Honey does not go bad. Most honey will crystallize over time, meaning you can’t see through it anymore, and it becomes less liquid and more solid. This is a natural process for honey, and will happen sooner in some than in others. THIS IS A GOOD THING. It means the honey you bought is raw and of the finest quality. Processed honey takes forever to crystallize, because the pollen - and flavor - have been stripped out. Each jar informs our consumers about crystallization, and provides the age-old remedy: take the lid off the jar, put it in a pot of hot (not boiling) water, and violà – it’s back to liquid in minutes.

In addition to supporting family apiaries (local beekeepers), Bee Raw Honey strives to be socially and environmentally sustainable by employing local manual labor, and using post consumer and glass packaging.

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Is Bee Raw Organic?

Bee Raw Honey is 100% natural, unprocessed and unfiltered. It is raw, and by its very nature is organic, but it is not certified “organic.” There are no certified organic honeys in the continental United States. Even though we do not use any pesticides, bees are living things with free will. Theoretically some of them can travel to a neighboring field and sample someone else’s flowers. But that’s not very likely.

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Does honey spoil?

Honey does not spoil – ever. It does not need refrigeration either. Just take good care not to drop food particles into the honey. Raw honey does crystalize. That is perfectly natural and does not mean the honey is bad.

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The honey arrived solid. Is it ok to eat?