No products in the cart.

what does ‘raw’ honey Mean?

When we say our honey is raw, we mean a few things.

First and foremost is that it has not been pasteurized or fine-filtered. We want the honey in our bottles to be just as natural as it is when the bees produce it in their hives. Pasteurization is done using high temperatures (at least 120 degrees F), and fine-filtering removes much of the pollen and other small bits naturally found in honey. These processes significantly damage the flavor and beneficial properties of the honey, and we want to make sure our products are as healthy, natural, and tasty as possible.

Most of the honey you see in the supermarkets will have been produced by many different beekeepers in many different places (EU and non-EU), then blended together in a facility to ensure a very consistent end product. All of our honey is unblended and comes from our own hives and bees. Unfiltered honey naturally contains small particles like bits of wax and pollen grains in the liquid honey. Coarse straining, which retains the nutrients and pollen, is allowed to remove the larger of these particles.

Commercial honey packers often ultra-filter their honey to extend shelf life before crystallization. This process removes all pollen, and they are not eligible for the Real Texas Honey™ program. Real Texas Honey™ will contain pollen as collected by the bees.

To ensure the best quality honey possible, we will only carry completely unpasteurized, only coarse-filtered, completely raw honey—the way honey should be.

 

what does ‘pure’ honey mean?
 

Pure honey is honey with no additives, flavorings, or adulterants. The Texas Agriculture Code further adds that “pure honey” means the nectar of plants that has been transformed by, and is the natural product of, bees and that is in the comb or has been taken from the comb and is packaged in a liquid, crystallized, or granular form.

what does ‘local’ honey mean?

 

Local honey is produced and consumed in the same eco-region and contains the same pollens as local flowers and plants. Please see the Honey Locator at Real Texas Honey.com to find local honey in your area.

Why are some products labeled ‘organic’ and others are not?
While all of our honey is raw, there is no definition in the United States for ‘organic’ honey. Because bees can fly up to five miles in a day, the only truly ‘organic’ honey is that produced by bees where there are no unnatural sources of sugar/nectar for a five-mile radius. That said, we only use natural, traditional processes without the use of harmful pesticides. 
 
We consider all our products to be pure and completely natural. 
 
Anyone utilizing the Real Texas Honey™ seal is prohibited from advertising their honey as ‘organic’.
 
Do you feed sugar to your bees?
Our bees are only fed sugar during winter months or during periods of no natural resources if needed and when there are no honey supers on the hive. The hives are designed such that there is a compartment (brood box) for the queen and her bees to keep their brood (developing bees) and store honey and pollen for themselves, and there are separate compartments, called honey supers, which keep the queen (and the baby bees) out, where the worker bees will store extra honey and pollen. At a minimum, several weeks before honey supers are placed on the hive, any sugar feeding is stopped, which ensures that our honey is pure honey with no sugar. We only take honey from the non-brood rearing areas (honey supers) of the hive, where the honey is excess to the needs of the bees and which are in place after all sugar feeding has ceased.
 
So, if you are worried about consuming honey from bees fed on sugar, you’ll be safe with us.
 
Why has my honey crystalized? Is something wrong with it?

No, nothing is wrong with your honey. All honey crystalizes. Some types of honey take much longer than other types (depending on the source of nectar and pollen), but this is a completely natural process that will happen to all honeys sooner or later.  Honey which has been processed (pasteurized and fine-filtered) will generally take longer than raw honey to crystalize, and in fact may never crystalize because it is no longer truly ‘honey’.

We only supply completely raw honey, which has the good bits still in it—the pollen. So, don’t worry if you notice small bits in your honey, but likewise, don’t worry if you don’t see them—individual grains of pollen are very, very small and may not be easy to see with the naked eye.  These bits give the natural sugars in honey ‘seeds’ from which to start crystalizing.

The amount of time it takes for a particular honey to crystalize depends on numerous factors, including the temperature at which the honey is stored, the amount of pollen in the honey, the proportion of natural glucose, the moisture content, the size of the container, etc. All these factors together make it impossible to predict exactly when a particular honey will crystalize.

If you have found that your honey has started to crystalize and you would prefer it liquid, you can do this:

Put it in a pan or warm water (under 120 F).

Leave it outside in the sunshine. 

Do NOT microwave or place bottles of honey in boiling water—doing this has the same effect as pasteurization.

 
How can I test my honey?

Everyone wants to know their honey is pure and natural, especially these days where stories of fraud, contamination, and deception are constantly appearing. This is why you’ll find lots of home testing methods demonstrated online or being passed around by word of mouth. Do not trust these! It’d be great to think there are simple, at-home methods to accurately test your honey, but the truth is none of these methods will tell you much of anything about the honey’s quality, purity, production, or anything else. Burning your honey, dropping it in water or on your nail, shaking it up, looking for honeycomb patterns, etc. … They’re all fake tests.

So how do you test honey? Basically, it has to be tested in a lab. There are a variety of tests that can be done, testing for the honey’s general physical characteristics, the honey’s pollen content, sugar content, pesticide amounts, etc. These tests can cost anywhere from $100 to $2,000.

 
What do we mean when we say our honey is Real Texas Honey Certified?

Real Texas Honey™ is a Texas non-profit organization that promotes honey 100% produced by honey bees in Texas. Participants must meet strict Program Requirements to ensure that the honey they sell displaying the Real Texas Honey™ seal is pure, unadulterated honey made by honey bees in Texas.

When you see the unique Real Texas Honey™ seal on a bottle of honey, you have added assurance that the honey is the real thing. Participants in the program are subject to inspection by members of a five-member board appointed by the Texas Beekeepers Association, and random honey samples undergo pollen testing and nuclear magnetic resonance testing to determine if the honey is unadulterated and produced from Texas nectars.

 

 

Does honey expire?

No! Honey never expires or goes off so long as it is kept in its container with the lid on (this prevents too much moisture from getting in, which may allow the yeasts in the honey to begin fermentation). It is unique among foods in this ability to stay good forever. Honey from hundreds and even thousands of years ago has been recovered from archeological sites, and it is still perfectly fine to eat.

How do I store and use my honey?

Honey is best stored with the lid fully closed and out of direct sunlight. If you can keep it somewhere that stays a bit warm (but not too hot), then the honey will generally stay runny a bit longer as well. Do not refrigerate honey.

I just purchased a bottle of the same type of honey I had in a previous order.
Why does it taste/look different?

Because all our honey is single-source (not taken from many places and blended), it reflects the conditions of the area in which our bees are located. Different times of year and different years will have different weather conditions, which means the local plants will grow differently, and therefore different nectars will be available for the bees to collect. This is also true for honey of the same variety but which comes from different areas. This is both because of the different mix of plants in different regions and because the weather will be different. All of this adds to the uniqueness of each honey.

Also, don’t forget that honey is always changing, and the honey you purchased previously may have changed from runny to crystalized or somewhere in-between since you last purchased. So, even if you have purchased honey of the same type and the same batch, it may have become more crystalized since your last order. This will have a slight effect on the perceived flavor because the solid crystals will take longer for your taste buds to pick up than runny honey. It will also have an effect on the color of the honey.

We believe it’s part of the fun and excitement of raw honey and most natural products! You never know exactly what you’ll get, but it all tastes great. If you find you’re purchasing honey that tastes exactly the same every time, it’s probably been blended and processed for consistency, which we don’t believe is good for the honey or for you.

Which honey is the best/tastiest/strongest?

If you’re new to the world of raw honey and you’re looking for a bit of guidance, we can offer a few tips:

  • Darker honeys tend to have stronger flavors.
  • Lighter honeys often have more floral flavors.
  • Every honey has its own properties, based on the plants the nectar comes from.
  • Some honeys are very bitter, like roasted coffee beans or very dark chocolate.
Where does our honey come from?

All of our honey comes directly from the bee hives in our apiary. Because of the sandy soil in our area, wildflowers are abundant (with sunflowers being the most prolific flowers and longest-lasting).

Is local honey better for curing hay fever?

At this point in time, there is no widely-accepted scientific research indicating that local honey has positive effects on allergies. Until there is a significant amount of research showing positive effects, we cannot say that honey will absolutely help with this. We do, however, have many customers who have reported relief from allergies after consuming our honey daily, so you may find it helps you as well. The best way to find out is to try it yourself and see!

Will honey will cure/help with my ________?  Is honey safe if I have ________ condition?

We are not medical experts, and due to current regulations, we are not able to give any guarantees on whether or not our honey will cure or help with or be safe for any ailment or condition, nor are we able to say with certainty how our honey may interact with other treatments or health regimens. Please take care if you have any concerns about any honey you may be thinking of purchasing. Do your research and consult your physician. We have many customers with a variety of conditions who swear by the benefits of our honey.

Can I feed raw honey to my baby?

Medical advice is that you shouldn’t give honey to children under the age of 1 year or to anyone with an underdeveloped or compromised immune system due to the potential presence of the bacterium causing botulism (Clostridium botulinum).

However, from the research we’ve seen and official advice, our raw honey should be safe for consumption during pregnancy. The possible botulism spores in the products should be wiped out by the mother’s digestive tract and immune system (assuming the mother doesn’t have a compromised immune system) well before they can turn into full-blown botulism. Additionally, it is not currently believed to be possible for the botulism toxin to get through the placenta even in the case of the mother contracting botulism, which, again, is extremely unlikely for a healthy person.

That said, we’re not doctors, and so this advice shouldn’t be taken as a replacement for speaking with a doctor.

i’ve heard that consuming honey with a metal spoon destroys the beneficial enzymes in honey – is this true?

Beekeepers use stainless steel equipment for honey extraction. 

Most teaspoons used to consume honey are made of stainless steel. 

In short, using a stainless steel spoon to consume honey will have no negative effect whatsoever on the enzymes in the honey—you can’t always trust what you read on Facebook!