Honey Without the Pollen is No Honey at All
2 Comments | Written on November 9, 2011 at 1:00 pm, by Lesley Kennedy
Oh, honey, can we talk honey? You know, that naturally delicious nectar of the gods that you drizzle on everything from toast to tea? Well, get ready for a full-on bee in your bonnet: That stuff you’re buying at the store might be bogus.
Food Safety News, produced by Marler Clark, a law firm representing foodborne illness victims, reports pollen is being filtered out of honey, which means, according to the Food and Drug Administration, it ain’t honey, sugar.
FSN says it had more than 60 “jars, jugs and plastic bears” of honey from 10 states and the District of Columbia analyzed by Texas A&M Prof. Vaughn Bryant, a leading pollen investigator. He found 76% of grocery store samples had no pollen, while 100 percent of the honey from drugstores and individual portions (like you’d get at a fast-food restaurant) were pollen free, and 76% of samples from big-box stores showed no pollen, either.
However, all honey samples from natural stores, farmers markets and co-ops tested with the full pollen amounts expected, FSN adds.
Why is this a sour deal? When you strip out the pollen, you can’t track the honey’s origin, FSN reports, and it hurts the quality, too.
Listen, we have few simple pleasures in life, and honey—especially when it’s full of pollen—is one of them. So, until mass retailers can put their—ahem—honey where their mouth is, we’ll be buying our liquid sunshine locally and organically. Who else wants to join our swarm?
If you’re as sweet on honey as we are, you’ll want to find more ways to use it, starting with these recipes:
• Brown Sugar–Honey Glazed Ham
Categories:
Food News | Tags: Chicken, Honey Baked Ham, Honey Mustard Salad Dressing
2 Comments | Post Your Comment
2 Responses to “Honey Without the Pollen is No Honey at All”
Are the benefits of honey gone then too – is it just syrup? I bought a jar at wal mart that said it was from a farm in mo. when I checked that small print it said from:canada, vietnam , india or afganistan!! I was shocked. I sent a note to the ‘farm’ that bottels it but never got an answer.And never bought that one again. Sticking to local now. I understand local honey is beneficial if you have allergies or breathing problems. vjbf from Iowa
I wonder how much of the pollen free honey has been imported into the United States from countries like China?