Buying Honey.

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Odea

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Late in life I have developed a likeness for honey. Never really liked it before this. Nothing nicer than a slice of McCambridges brown bread, toasted with honey on it.

The problem is, I am not an expert on honey. I just buy the supermarket stuff. Not sure where it comes from or is it mostly sugar etc.

The plan is to start looking around for a locally produced honey.

I don't really have any farmer's markets close to me here in Dublin. We do have an Avoca and a Donnybrook Fair where I think I might get a honey from a small producer but I am not even sure if this will be any different from the supermarket honey.

Any thoughts or recommendations?
 
Odea said:
Late in life I have developed a likeness for honey. Never really liked it before this. Nothing nicer than a slice of McCambridges brown bread, toasted with honey on it.

The problem is, I am not an expert on honey. I just buy the supermarket stuff. Not sure where it comes from or is it mostly sugar etc.

The plan is to start looking around for a locally produced honey.

I don't really have any farmer's markets close to me here in Dublin. We do have an Avoca and a Donnybrook Fair where I think I might get a honey from a small producer but I am not even sure if this will be any different from the supermarket honey.

Any thoughts or recommendations?
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There is a Honey Farm in the Dublin Mountains. The BK has many aparies and you would get a choice of different types of honey. He also has an online shop. Also if you are near Waterford the Amish on the Dunmore Road have honey and great cakes too. Your local BK’s association would have a list of suppliers too. There is a world of difference between blended multi source honey that is pasteurised and locally sourced honey.
 
I had a look at the Dublin Mountains man who produces honey. From looking at his website it is only available online and in lots of 20 jars. For the moment I am just looking to purchase an occasional jar as I go. Not really online.
 
Odea said:
I had a look at the Dublin Mountains man who produces honey. From looking at his website it is only available online and in lots of 20 jars. For the moment I am just looking to purchase an occasional jar as I go. Not really online.
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If you send me PM I will send you a jar of honey. I am a BK but only keep a couple of hives and don’t sell it. You can judge yourself the difference:)
 
ClubMan said:
Special glucose and fructose molecules?
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Special sources might be a different way of looking at it. Similar to grass fed beef as opposed to factory farming. Likewise free range eggs and poultry. Organic vegetables. Farmed fish. The list is endless. They are all the same product but sourced very differently.
 
I'm no expert in the area but honey from a honeycomb is infinitely nicer than shop bought honey. Plus it has a delicious crunchiness to it if you like that texture.
 
Be very street-wise where you buy your honey. A year or two before Covid while shopping in one of the German supermarkets I came across one of Cork's honey suppliers buying four/five slabs of honey (perhaps even more!). For some strange reason as he left the supermarket he had covered his slabs of honey with brown paper. He bought nothing else.
 
Buy a jar of Boyne Valley and you won't go wrong. Hopefully someone doesn't come on here saying they love "organic honey", time for all of us to buzz off if that happens :p
 
I think you'll notice the difference in local honey & standard supermarket honey. Don't know where you are, but Lott's in terenure have Wicklow honey at the moment for 10€. If you go to a market you might get it bit cheaper

www.theguardian.com

Bee aware: do you know what is in that cheap jar of honey?

British beekeepers call for stricter labelling on supermarket blends to identify the countries of origin
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
Here's a great book https://www.amazon.co.uk/Honey-Connoisseur-Selecting-Tasting-Varietals/dp/1579129293

I brought Kim Flottum over here when I was selling a brand of beeswax candles he was associated with and in just a couple of days I saw honey in a different light.

There's nothing better than a strong cheddar cheese dipped into a heather honey and accompanied by a nice sauv blanc as an evening snack.

If you are in stillorgan / goatstown area, Robbie's greengrocer in Drumartin stocks Tara Hill honey from Wexford. Probably €10-€12 a jar. But worth every cent.
 
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My Dad was a beekeeper. Often brought him back little pots of honey from my travels. He loved tasting them but always preferred his own. I don’t like blended honeys in the supermarket, they are too thin and runny and I think pasteurising it makes it taste burnt. Mostly honey had the flavour of the flower the bees were harvesting at the time. Bees only travel 3 miles from the hive so the taste is local. There can be variations in colour as well.

Take silver surfer up on his offer, you won’t go wrong.
 
Silversurfer said:
Unpasteurised honey will crystallise. By heating (pasteurising) it will remain runny.
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This doesnt explain specifically why honey is pasteurised.

Honey is solid at room temp. Heating it does liquidise it.

But if its pastuerised i.e heated to a specific temp for a specific duration then why exactly is this done? Surely after it is heated and then cools it returns to its original state.

Pasteurisatiin is done to kill bacteria in dairy produce.

Why is honey pasteurised? Is it to kill bacteria? I dont know. Do you?
 
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