We shouldn't eat honey!

Thanks, but she wouldn’t have that. She carries her honey everywhere with her.

Basgetti you could try substituting stevia for sugar (check it out with your Mum’s GP/Doctors first). This may help prevent future cavities and dental visits! My parents were diabetic and both had a very (Anglo-Indian family, read incredibly!) sweet tooth. We cheated a bit as they got older

Yes when she syphons it its runny, but in time it crystallised, I just pop a lump on toast and it ok to spread , I also put it in my camomile tea when its hot but not too hot, I don't want to kill off the good bacteria,

Shel1951

My friend is a bee keeper and this is where I get my honey, its local and helps with asthma I get from hay-fever, I have mild asthma but during hay-fever time it gets worse .I start it on toast in October.
The honey I get is solid and so the jar lasts the season.
I believe if it stays runny it has something added to it.
The shop honey is very different, it stays runny and all the honey in the jar are
the same colour, mine can vary in colour depending on the flowers the bee take the pollen from

OH is a beekeeper. The honey he gets from his bees starts off runny. When I help him to put it in jars it can get everywhere! As time goes on it begins to crystallise. Some people like a firmer texture. If you prefer it soft simply put the jar in a bowl of hot water. If OH has a lot of jars which have crystallised he has a special honey warmer - basically an old fridge with a light bulb in it!

My friend is a bee keeper and this is where I get my honey, its local and helps with asthma I get from hay-fever, I have mild asthma but during hay-fever time it gets worse .I start it on toast in October.
The honey I get is solid and so the jar lasts the season.
I believe if it stays runny it has something added to it.
The shop honey is very different, it stays runny and all the honey in the jar are
the same colour, mine can vary in colour depending on the flowers the bee take the pollen from

ViceVersa

Allira

ViceVersa

Stick in the jar in hot water and it should fix the problem - or take the lid off and give it a quick blast in the microwave. And before anyone comes at me, those tips came from the local beekeeper we get honey from.

If I'm not using it all at once, will the rest be ok and keep? ?
I have with the last remnants of a jar of cheaper honey, microwave method.

I'm the only one who eats it.

Yes it will. It will be fine to use.

Thanks!

We have some hives that belong to a local beekeeper. Not commercial at all but they do produce beautiful raw honey. We also have hundreds of wild bees if varying sorts and sizes. They coexist quite happily. Get your honey from a local beekeeper not the supermarket where it’s mass produced and quite possibly not pure.

Allira

ViceVersa

Stick in the jar in hot water and it should fix the problem - or take the lid off and give it a quick blast in the microwave. And before anyone comes at me, those tips came from the local beekeeper we get honey from.

If I'm not using it all at once, will the rest be ok and keep? ?
I have with the last remnants of a jar of cheaper honey, microwave method.

I'm the only one who eats it.

Yes it will. It will be fine to use.

ViceVersa

Stick in the jar in hot water and it should fix the problem - or take the lid off and give it a quick blast in the microwave. And before anyone comes at me, those tips came from the local beekeeper we get honey from.

If I'm not using it all at once, will the rest be ok and keep? ?
I have with the last remnants of a jar of cheaper honey, microwave method.

I'm the only one who eats it.

Wyllow3

That usually happens after it's been in the cupboard for a year...

Honey keeps for ever and is used as a preservative by some people.

I was going to suggest the microwave blast, too...

Wyllow3

Amazon has quite a few all UK honey including specifying "collected from bees in Somerset" etc etc" (I cant afford Manuka honey. Is this likely to be OK?

Manuka honey is nothing special. Any pure honey will have the same properties. Just find a local Beekeepers group and buy from their producers.

Though, if you insist on organic and can't find British do go on contributing to the Bezoz $billions...

I do fail to understand why people are still buying from Amazon when its billionaire owner is a Trump sycophant and cheerleader.

Stick in the jar in hot water and it should fix the problem - or take the lid off and give it a quick blast in the microwave. And before anyone comes at me, those tips came from the local beekeeper we get honey from.

That usually happens after it's been in the cupboard for a year...

I bought some local honey from the farm shop a couple of weeks ago.

It has crystallised and is so solid I bent the teaspoon trying to get it out of the jar!

Ah, it's on Amazon as well, some is described as organic and some not from this brand. There is also Black Bee Honey

"Black Bee Honey - Pure British Spring Soft Set Honey, Creamy and Lightly Sweet, Unprocessed Single Source from Hive to Jar, Never Blended - Delicious on Toast, Soothing in Drinks, 227g Glass Jar"

thats £6.95.

I looked it up,

"From Littleover Apiaries Ltd
"We are the UK’s leading honey producer and supplier of English honey along with good quality honeys from around the world. From delicate flavoured acacia honeycomb in honey to the robust taste of active Manuka honey with all of its natural properties. All of our honey is raw, cold extracted from the hives with minimal interference to the bees as possible. Our organic honey comes from vast tracts of wildflower pastures around the world, untouched by pesticides or chemicals and where the air is pure. Our own laboratories ensure the exceptional quality of our honey at all times."

It they get it from all over the world I suppose the question is how do we know its all they claim?

but yes it sounds good and no its not advertising to tell me where I can get it. 🙂

Waitrose sells British summer honey, Littleover Apiary honeys (Derbyshire) and other British honeys.

Hope that's not advertising.

Wyllow3

Amazon has quite a few all UK honey including specifying "collected from bees in Somerset" etc etc" (I cant afford Manuka honey. Is this likely to be OK?

I don't know, Wyllow.

Nothing to do with honey but I bought a pot of my usual (not cheap) facecream from Amazon, whereas I normally buy it from Boots.

It looked exactly the same, the packaging was identical but the texture of the cream was different so I thought the formula had had changed. Then I got a slight rash on my face, thought it could be unconnected, perhaps from a cold.
Next time I bought it from Boots and it is just the same as it used to be. No rash either.

I do shop on Amazon (needs must) but am discerning.

Somerset honey is available online from various outlets.
Can you buy honey that is produced local to you?

Amazon has quite a few all UK honey including specifying "collected from bees in Somerset" etc etc" (I cant afford Manuka honey. Is this likely to be OK?

I dont have a local beekeeper:

I adore honey: I have it on toast every night for supper and use it for stewing sour fruit

what should I buy

I just had look at my Sainsbury honey, and it was very vague about origins, and even says "not for EU" which probably means the EU have standards not being met.

Most cheap honey isn’t even proper honey. The test is if you put real honey into water it will fall to the bottom. Cheap honey dissolves. A lot of it comes from China and is rubbish. I buy from a local beekeeper.

I have a little container with a sliding side and have used this for years to catch absolutely everything. But BBs are quite big and I accidentally trapped its leg which caused it to cry out.

Yes, so have I, similar to the one in the link.

You have to be very careful when using them, best when they're buzzing away on a flat surface like a window, thinking they can get out through it. Then slowly and gently move the slider and wait for it to buzz into the other half on its own.

I caught a smaller bee 🤔 the other day too then realised it was a wasp. However, I let it go, it is a pollinator too. Hope it doesn't make a nest in the eaves.

Honey bees are very important for pollination. I know someone who kept a hive or 2 in an old.orchard while she was moving and apparently that autumn the trees produced so many more apples the owners pleased with her to bring them back!
Bumble bee (and other non honey bee) colonies are very different to honey bee colonies. Honeybees overwinter, and in the spring loads and loads of bees are out there foraging and building up the colony. Bumble bee (and other annual bee)queens are the only bees that overwinter . They come out in early spring and start gathering nectar and pollen for their brood of maybe 8 bees. They brood them like a hen does. When they hatch they go out and help mum bringing in nectar and pollen for their future siblings, and so it goes on, depending on the variety and conditions, maximum number of bees will be between 40 and 400 max.
Different varieties of bee have different length of tongue and for example a honeybees tongue isn't long enough to pollinate a runner bean. Teeny tiny bees, that maybe live in stalls or little holes in rocks need flowers with easily accessible nectar
We need both
And we need more natural vegetation and habitat for bumblebees. If we destroy the habitat we are preventing bumble bees from thriving, not honeybees. Bumble bees also buzz pollinate, so are good for some crops
Honey bees can pollinate vast fields of rape for example which bumblebees couldn't do because there are not enough of them. They need unimproved species rich grassland. Beekeepers bring colonies to crops such as rape, fkax, field beans, they couldn't survive in those fields permanently because they are basically deserts, once the crop has finished flowering, so they are brought home
We can help.bumble and.other non honey bees by providing a habitat for them to nest in and trees and flowers that feed them
www.fas.scot/downloads/tn700-bumblebees-and-the-importance-of-pollination/

Gran22boys

How do we know if a honey is truly organic? I mean how do know what plants the bees have visited?

Very little honey from the UK could be guaranteed to be organic, because bees fly distances and could forage in crops that weren't organic. Maybe if it was from hives on the moors away from anywhere it could be, but you can't just call it organic, you'd have to pay to get it officially organic

silverlining48

When my grandchildren were babies/ young they weren’t allowed to have honey. I was never sure why.

Because it is possible that there are botulism spores in honey. Very unlikely but under 1 s could become very ill if that honey actually had such spores