SueBee Honey possibly "adulterated"
- Thread starter Loadnabox
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Does anyone know anyways we can try and find out where our honey is coming from? For instance, I got the Walmart and Market Basket honey a couple times and am now wondering if there is some way to know what larger company produces and bottles it up for them? I can appreciate the local honey concept and hope to be able to go to that point at some time, but until I get better at this, that honey is just out of my price range. Also, is there something we can do to check to see if our honey has a bunch of lead and such in it? I doubt it would be as easy as a ph test type thing, but it doesn't hurt to ask. Not that i like the idea of sucking down more chemicals, but what kind of effect would this have on making the mead?
Get to know some beekeepers. Seriously. Buying direct is less expensive. I get some of my local honey at my honey co where they're charging $3.50/# if you bring your own jug.
It's way less expensive for sure, try to find a decent sized beekeeper though. My main guy is too small, he'll give me a couple bucks off every few kilos, but if I buy say a 5 gallon bucket it'll be pretty much full price - because he doesn't care if it sells in a week or a month, every year he runs out of stock so he needs to get every $ per lb he can, and I respect that.
I don't think you can find out whether a honey is contaminated without paying out of pocket for expensive testing, and if potentially contaminated honey from China is slipping into the US through other sources, it's likely you won't find any info from US sources either.
If you're having trouble hitting your target gravity in meadmaking, seems way off somehow, that could suggest that you have a honey that was adulterated with something like corn syrup, which would change the SG of the honey.
You can always try the honey locator, at this link:
http://www.honeylocator.com/
Scout around, see who the honey suppliers are and get an idea of prices. You might hit a good one with honey that fits your budget.
You can also try browsing through the National Honey Board site:
http://www.honey.com/
A lot of good info there!
Supermarket honeys are kinda sorta ok, they work but they're produced for the general consumer, and not necessarily for the meadmaker who is going to be more concerned with aroma and nuances of flavor than the average shopper. The producers are also less likely to take extra care with processing, like avoiding too much use of heating the honey for ease of transport and packaging.
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