Honey Consumption Question

[rose]

I have what is going to sound like a really stupid question but here it goes. A woman I work with told me your not suppose to eat the honey right from the hive because you'll get ill off it. What I'm referring to is you've retrieved your supers, extracted the honey, filtered it then bottled it in clean containers. She said you must also pasturise it before you can eat it. Everyone was excited when I brought some in for them to try now after she opened her mouth they all think they're going to get ill from eating it. I know all about the pathogens, and how infants shouldn't eat it. Am I missing something, that is all you do right? Super, to extracter (after you decap them), to filters, to your bottle, then your good to go right, or is there another "saftey" step I'm missing? Thanks.

[Bill W.]

There is no good reason to pasteurize honey.  Light heating may keep it from crystallizing, but there is no reason to bother with that if your honey is not going to sit on a shelf waiting for months to be sold.

Honey is naturally anti-bacterial due to its high sugar content - just like fruit preserves.  A lot of sugar and not enough water makes an environment that very few things can survive in.

Just think about all the people who eat honeycomb.  How many get sick from the unpasteurized honey?

[buzzbee]

Eat away!!
Pasteurizing is done to keep the honey clear and fromm crystallizing.
You get the most benefit from honey doing it the way you are.
heating it just degrades it to store bought honey.
Read a little here:
http://www.reallyrawhoney.com/healthfacts.php
or google raw honey!

[thomashton]

That lady needs to keep her uneducated trap shut!

Babies under 1 year old should not eat raw honey (as you mentioned), but other than those individuals, raw honey is more beneficial than pasturized honey. If you're going to pasturize it, you might as well just go and eat some imported honey. You may get better flavor but you're killing all the beneficial agents.

[Greg Peck]

Man I would be a very very sick person if this were true. I assume that your friend is thinking about the infant issues with botulinum toxin spores. It should be noted that botulinum spores are also found in dirt and other sources. This is only a problem for infants who's digestive tract is immature and not able to deal with the spores. You can read more about it at http://www.marshallbrain.com/cp/honey.htm

There is no reason I can think of or have ever heard not to eat unprocessed honey

[Moonshae]

Sounds like a golden opportunity to educate people on why honey from beekeepers is better than that from the grocery store.

If this woman were right, there wouldn't be a market for or a supply of comb honey, which is a premium product. People don't pay a premium to get sick (generally).  :-P

[thomashton]

This is true except for BoTox injections :-P

[Card]

If what she told you was true, I would have spent my entire childhood being sick as a dog.

Heck, when Grandpa used to harvest his hives, all of us kids would barely wait until he got the bees off of it before we'd start eating the comb.

[Irwin]

She is jealous of you and wants people to look at her. :-D

[Michael Bush]

>A woman I work with told me your not suppose to eat the honey right from the hive because you'll get ill off it.

Not true.  Honey, as does ALL raw food, can have botulism spores in it.  We eat them all the time whenever we eat anything raw.  They are harmless to normal adults with a normal immune system.

[johnnybigfish]

   Hmmm,...Whats a "Filter"?
 I just let it run(not very fast, thats for sure) through cheesecloth!
 I eat it right out of the hive too!
 I also inform people that my honey includes wax and bee parts! They seem to enjoy hearing this! (I think most of them think I'm kidding!)
 I'm not sick from eating my honey.....I may be a little unstable but nothing to go to the Dr about ;)

your friend,
john

[sc-bee]

I'm glad I read this----- my wife will be happy. I will no longer be with her tomorrow :-D ;)!

[qa33010]

   Hmmm,...Whats a "Filter"?
 I just let it run(not very fast, thats for sure) through cheesecloth!
 I eat it right out of the hive too!
 I also inform people that my honey includes wax and bee parts! They seem to enjoy hearing this! (I think most of them think I'm kidding!)
 I'm not sick from eating my honey.....I may be a little unstable but nothing to go to the Dr about ;)

your friend,
john

    I just promise no whole bee bodies and plenty of wax and what not that makes it sooooo good.  Hitting fifty and still alive and never sick from honey or comb (which I use instead of gum)!!! :-P

[hankdog1]

 :shock:  well goodbye and fairwell guys i'm sure since i love comb honey i'm only seconds away from death.  i wonder though what the people are gonna think when nobody gets sick?  oooh well if it is true i couldn't think of a better way to die lol.

[indypartridge]

...I assume that your friend is thinking...

I wouldn't bet on that!!

[Scadsobees]

Actually, what you do instead of getting sick is to charge DOUBLE for it since it is RAW, considered a health food!  For her, however, you would do the favor of charging TRIPLE!!  ;)

I dont' think that any store honey is actually pasteurized (180F for something like 4 hours?), but it is heated to roughly 120F so that filtration goes quicker.

[K-R-Farms]

I have what is going to sound like a really stupid question but here it goes. A woman I work with told me your not suppose to eat the honey right from the hive because you'll get ill off it. What I'm referring to is you've retrieved your supers, extracted the honey, filtered it then bottled it in clean containers. She said you must also pasturise it before you can eat it. Everyone was excited when I brought some in for them to try now after she opened her mouth they all think they're going to get ill from eating it. I know all about the pathogens, and how infants shouldn't eat it. Am I missing something, that is all you do right? Super, to extracter (after you decap them), to filters, to your bottle, then your good to go right, or is there another "saftey" step I'm missing? Thanks.

My five year old daughter carries the soon-to-be-extracted frames over to out extracting station.
My wife reports of a few "finger marks" on the combs as they arrive.

Like the honey dripping down her face doesn't give her away!

Anyway, Rose, your honey is just fine.