# Difficulties Selling Raw Honey?



## wayacoyote (Nov 3, 2003)

We participate in our local food co-ops and organic food groceries and finally had a crop of honey to put on the market. Before we were ready to go to the co-ops and groceries (no fancy labels, etc) we marketed our unfiltered raw honey (from hives never treated with chems or fumes, etc) to our friends. A lot of whom are "eat from the garden-sorts". 

It is a comedy of errors in dealing with return customers. 

They were very impressed with the clarity (they meant "light colored") of our unfiltered honey. Our info signs posted in our break areas And the labels on the jars explained about the increased granulation of unfiltered honey.

Now, they are returning for the same product and want it liquified. One (a landlord to an outyard) wanted if for presents and intended to reliquify it after purchasing it from us. Rather than have a "raw" label on honey that he had heated, I made a new label just for him. 

We Really wanted to sell raw honey, but our dedicated customers only want the same stuff they can get off a store shelf.... It's like advertising thouroughbred and only getting orders for scabs. 

Anyone experiencing the same?

WayaCoyote


----------



## tarheit (Mar 26, 2003)

Unfortunately yes. Mostly from the local health food store of all customers. They seem perfectly happy with the imported organic and raw honey from elsewhere crystalizes, but when ours does we get a call. Go figure.

-Tim


----------



## Grant (Jun 12, 2004)

My honey is raw and unfiltered, and some will granulate and some will not. I keep much of it separate and segregated by location and variety. Some granulates, and some doesn't. Every year I keep a couple of jars for posterity. I have three-year old honey that still is liquid.

One thing I think that helps is that I pull a batch of supers in the afternoon and extract that same day (mostly after supper). The heat still present in the supers makes extraction a breeze and I think it keeps honey from pulling moisture in from the air. I don't mess around with a frame that isn't fully capped. Moisture content is one of several factors that affects granulation.

What I get from my customers is the erroneous thought that only raw honey will not granulate, and only "store-bought" honey granulates. Of course, we know that some store brand honey granulates and some doesn't.

I sell my honey raw. One bit of education I try and impress upon people is that all honey will eventually granulate given enough time and the right environment. And then some of these people think raw honey needs to be refrigerated!

When people mildly complain that their honey granulated, I tell them that if they're going to use it in tea, then use a spoon and don't worry about it. If they're still bent on having liquid honey, I have them warm it up. But I also warn them that excessive heat is bad news.

Grant
Jackson, MO http://www.25hives.homestead.com


----------



## berkshire bee (Jan 28, 2007)

At the farm where I have some hives and sell some honey I put out liquid and crysallized and let them choose. Some people prefer one or the other. They know that it's all raw honey and has been screen filtered coming out of the extractor and never heated.


----------



## honeyman46408 (Feb 14, 2003)

I tell people that my honey is 'STRAINED NOT FILTERED" (just to clean it up) and it is warmed NOT HEATED (never over 115 degrees) for ease of bottleing and settleing.

I find that 99% of people want a nice looking jar of honey and I tell folks that my (our) honey is as close to raw as you can get without "SUTFF" in it!!

I also find that sell ing honey to the public is a lesson in beekeeping and a lot of floks think crystalized honey is not good untill I tell the spread it on bread and it wont run off but if they want it liquid BE SURE TO LOOSEN THE LID before warming!!


----------



## tecumseh (Apr 26, 2005)

wayacoyote first sezs:
They were very impressed with the clarity (they meant "light colored") of our unfiltered honey.

tecumseh suggest:
I find about equal numbers of my clients prefer light and dark honey. I assume their preferece is much about their first exposure to honey. one or two even tell me they prefer it granulated since it is less of a mess. and yes for the majority of consumers you will have to educate them that granulated honey hasn't really gone bad.

my honey does granulate very quickly at the fist advent of cold weather. I long ago decided that it was the sparkle that caught folks eye and established the first step is selling honey. From this I decided that a small round label on the lid work for me since it allows me to slightly loosen the lid and un-crystalize the honey if the need arises.


----------



## Grant (Jun 12, 2004)

Hey honeyman46408,

You mention 115 degrees, any rhyme or reason to this temperature? I call my honey "raw" and I have a honey warmer for reliquifying granulated 5-gallon buckets that never gets above 104 degrees.

Why 104? That's the lowest setting on the thermostat. I know because I also installed a min/max, indoor/outdoor thermometer.

And yes, I still have people that take exception to this temperature and the idea that ANY honey that is reliquified is automatically disqualified as "raw." Any thoughts from anybody else? Where is the real temp that separates the raw from the pasteurized? And for how long?

I'm also quick to point out that my hives sitting in the hot Missouri sun on a day when the outdoor temp is in the upper 90's may disqualify my honey as raw if you're going to stick to the criteria too strictly!

Grant
Jackson, MO 63755 http://www.25hives.homestead.com


----------



## honeyman46408 (Feb 14, 2003)

"You mention 115 degrees, any rhyme or reason to this temperature? I call my honey "raw" and I have a honey warmer for reliquifying granulated 5-gallon buckets that never gets above 104 degrees."

Well 104 is a good number, I use 115 so I can say it hasnt been over 120  no rhyme or reason.

I was raised in the Ohio river valley so I know how hot it can get in your area and have read of others that live where it gets HOT so how hot has the honey been, probably not over 110 or the comb would began to colapse.


----------



## wayacoyote (Nov 3, 2003)

Our labels are of "RAW HONEY". The next line down describes it as "unfiltered, unheated" just to specify. And by unheated, I mean that we don't actively heat it any more than we actively filter it. Any heating done to our honey is naturally occuring, and for that we can take neither credit or blame. I guess a real stickler could stick a straw into the side of a beehive to suck out the honey.


----------

