Raw Honey - UK

[miles]

What is the best way to get good honey if one lives in the UK?

I say 'good honey' because I don't know what that means. I was looking at 'raw honey' on the internet, and they were talking about other stuff like 'granulation process', 'cold pressed', 'cool-treated'.

I wouldn't buy 'raw beef', where they hadn't 'cooked' it, but they'd first 'cold pressed' the meat between metal plates so all the juices ran out, then put it through a fine 'granulator', taken out all the bits which had any fat or connective tissue, heated it to 37C until it went soft and finally squashed it back together in to a cube...

If this 'raw honey' is basically like the honey version of 'fruit juice', I would not be interested...

http://www.worldwideshoppingmall.co.uk/body-soul/raw-eco-kiwi-honey.asp - This is one of the products I looked at.

[maxscan]

My local health food shop does comb honey cut to fill a square plastic box (not a piece of comb in a jar of otherwise suspect honey...)

AFAIK comb honey is always completely raw, I think because the wax combs would not last if heated - and certainly would be destroyed by any pressing!

Basically you just cut slices off the comb and eat the whole thing - I really like the texture - sort of slightly crunchy, slightly chewy. I've not tried blending it but I'm sure it would work, just might be a bit thicker than regular honey.

The shop I get it from is the Surbiton Natural Health Centre, 14 Claremont Road, London KT6 4QU, 020 8399 2772. Not sure if they deliver but if you're in London it's literally 2 minutes outside Surbiton station (zone 6, 20 minutes from Waterloo)

The honey comes from the Isle of Man. It's £4.19 for a 10cm by 10cm x 3cm block.

Hope this helps...

[PaleoPhil]

There are differences between various comb honeys, believe it or not. Tyler is our UK expert on comb honey. Here are some links with his advice, and some honeys:

http://www.rawpaleoforum.com/primal-diet/raw-unheated-honey/msg24492/#msg24492

http://www.rawpaleoforum.com/primal-diet/raw-unheated-honey/msg31441/#msg31441
dark-coloured heather honeycomb

http://www.rawpaleoforum.com/primal-diet/raw-unheated-honey/msg31564/#msg31564
different appearances of comb honeys

http://www.northfieldfarm.com/shop/product/heather-honeycomb
£3.40/.5 lbs (estimate) = £6.80/lb = $5.11/lb

http://beegentle.co.uk/acatalog/bee_gentle_honey.html
Dorset Heather Honeycomb
£10.00 / lb ($15.03/lb)
 
This honey has some elements of comb honey added back to it:
Chunky Cold Packed Honey
with 2% Royal Jelly, Pollen, and Propolis
http://honeypacifica.com/coldpacked.htm
$15/1.25 lbs = $12/lb
$66/6 lbs. = $11/lb sold out

Tyler, is there a website link for the honey you buy?

[TylerDurden]

I buy my raw comb honey from (LFM) farmers' markets in London, so have to go there to buy/order.

Cold-pressed is, I think, the usual UK phrase meaning "raw", but all the jarred cold-pressed honey had the same negative effect on me as other obviously pasteurised honeys. I  view honeycombs as the only suitable source of genuinely raw honey, and only if bought from small-time beekeepers farmers' markets. Anything mass-produced or sold from abroad is bound to have been heated to death.

Back in 2 weeks.

[PaleoPhil]

I buy my raw comb honey from (LFM) farmers' markets in London, so have to go there to buy/order.

Just in case they ever go online, what is the name of the farm that sells it?

Anything mass-produced or sold from abroad is bound to have been heated to death.

So you mean that if the farm you buy from shipped their honeycomb overseas they'd need to heat it too? I wouldn't buy it regularly anyway--probably would be too expensive to buy shipped that far and would also use more fossil fuels--but I would be curious to try it.

[TylerDurden]

I forget the name of the farmer in question. Anyway, he's too small-time to ever go online.

As for buying from abroad, I gather there are so many legal hurdles to overcome, that the honey would have to be pasteurised.