# Can raw honey be clear?.....



## twoblessings

I am talking about unheated raw honey. 

thanks!


----------



## ken rice

Can Bee clear as water


----------



## BeekeeperEric

Yes. And Freshly extracted, settled, and bottled honey should be. Over time honey will crystallize, and this can vary from days to years depending on the variety. With gentle heating to 35 - 40 degrees celsius ( the internal temperature of a bee hive) this process can be undone, without damaging any of the health benefits.


----------



## Solomon Parker

I've never seen perfectly clear, but I have seen very light colored.

I'd love to see it though.


----------



## Luterra

Have you or your neighbors been feeding sugar syrup?


----------



## jip

Same as Solomon. 

Capped or uncapped honey?
Nectar can be clear.


----------



## Paul McCarty

My early season Willow honey is pretty clear.


----------



## beemandan

When you say clear...are you referring to lack of color or lack of particles in suspension?


----------



## ken rice

When I have pretty clear honey it is usually in first year fresh drawn comb,or so it seems


----------



## Broke-T

I'm with Dan. I think clear honey means no suspendeded particles, not lack of color. However, raw honey can be clear and light in color.

Johnny


----------



## ken rice

I guess the only one that can answer what is meant is the one that started the post


----------



## Island Apiaries

Our fireweed can be almost water clear.


----------



## cerezha

BeekeeperEric said:


> ... With gentle heating to 35 - 40 degrees celsius ( the internal temperature of a bee hive) this process can be undone, without damaging any of the health benefits.


Not true. 30oC is a temperature of the nest. Nest does not have a honey. It is just waste of energy to keep comb with honey at 30oC especially in winter. I have comb honey, which is stored for almost a year - it did not crystallize. Crystallization somehow related to honey extraction. Once honey leave its "natural" place (honeycomb) it could crystallize, which, I believe did not affect its properties. ANY artificial heating shall remove FDA's "grade A" from the label. But, I guess, one could bring honey in Mohave desert and heat it up "naturally"... Sergey


----------



## cerezha

twoblessings said:


> I am talking about unheated raw honey.


 Sounds like sugar water.... Sergey


----------



## dixiebeeco

Cotton Honey in South GA normally comes out of the comb nearly as clear as water. Strain the wax particles out and it's clear X's 2. Also has its own unique taste, but sugars fairly fast. 

Dixiebeeco


----------



## beesinwv

I WV locust honey is the closest thing to clear honey I have seen. I think the variety of plants has a lot to do with it. Our Poplar honey is very dark and Autumn Olive is light yellow. Another thought, were you feeding sugar water? This would give you a clear honey.


----------



## AstroBee

cerezha said:


> Not true. 30oC is a temperature of the nest. Nest does not have a honey. It is just waste of energy to keep comb with honey at 30oC especially in winter. I have comb honey, which is stored for almost a year - it did not crystallize. Crystallization somehow related to honey extraction. Once honey leave its "natural" place (honeycomb) it could crystallize, which, I believe did not affect its properties. ANY artificial heating shall remove FDA's "grade A" from the label. But, I guess, one could bring honey in Mohave desert and heat it up "naturally"... Sergey



I guess this was missed when first posted, but there are several inaccuracies that need to be pointed out. Comb honey will definitely crystallize. It may crystallize slower than extracted honey, but it will crystallize. Crystallization is more a function of nectar source (relative percentages of sugars). I'd like to see the source of the comment "ANY artificial heating shall remove FDA's "grade A" from the label." If true, that would eliminate almost all commercially extracted honey from being graded A. Here's a quote from the USDA publication: United States Standards
for Grades of Extracted Honey

Section 52.1401 Determining the grade.

(e) "Crystallized honey and partially crystallized honey shall be liquified by heating to approximately 54.4C (130F) and cooled to approximately 20C (68F) before determining the grade of the product."

I could see nothing that says that heated honey could not receive the grade A designation.


----------



## Mtn. Bee

Our locust honey is pretty clear color wise and I often get asked what we add/mix with our
honey and proudly say nothing that is the color of our spring honey!
Also fireweed and snowberry can be fairly light in color.


----------



## deknow

cerezha said:


> Not true. 30oC is a temperature of the nest. Nest does not have a honey. It is just waste of energy to keep comb with honey at 30oC especially in winter.


...but in the summer, it is unavoidable that it gets hotter than the brood, being above the brood on a day that is 90F.



> I have comb honey, which is stored for almost a year - it did not crystallize. Crystallization somehow related to honey extraction. Once honey leave its "natural" place (honeycomb) it could crystallize, which, I believe did not affect its properties.


Errr, and tupelo honey and buckwheat honey won't crystalize after extraction, and some honey crystalizes in the comb (heather is famous for this, I have some goldenrod that is crystalized in the comb). It is folly to generalize too much about what characteristics honey has.



> ANY artificial heating shall remove FDA's "grade A" from the label. But, I guess, one could bring honey in Mohave desert and heat it up "naturally"...


That is simply not true. I believe that there are some state standards of identity that say that heat cannot be added to grade a raw honey...but adding heat is anything other than cooling....it's nonsense.

deknow


----------



## deknow

cerezha said:


> Sounds like sugar water.... Sergey


...that's a heck of a claim to make about something you've never seen and have virtually no description of.

deknow


----------



## beemandan

Early in this thread I asked the op if he/she meant clear in color or lacking in particulates. I never got a reply.....so, to my thinking we don't really have any idea what we're talking about.


----------



## Beregondo

Yes, honey can be clear.
It can have color and be transparent, and it also can be colorless ( or very nearly so) and be transparent...similar to light Karo syrup.


----------



## NasalSponge

Since we don't know what we are talking about I will chime in  One and only one time in all my time with bees did I get a shallow super of black locust honey which extracted made one gallon. I put it in a one gallon jar and it was so light you could easily read a newspaper thru it. Extracted sugar syrup looks the same but to me the taste difference is obvious.


----------



## Vermillion

In November we had a statewide Natural Honey Challenge. Here are a couple of photos I snapped during the sorting of the honey. We had a couple of "water white" entries according to Jack's Scale, and you can see that they are very clear.

The rule was no heating or forced filtration, honey could be strained only.

There is also a photo of the darkest and lightest of the honeys. 
One of the very clear honeys was identified by the beekeeper as "palm"; the others were not identified as to type and so classified as mixed floral for the competition. 

The very dark honey pictured was identified by the beekeeper as macadamia nut.


----------



## SWB

Pure 'Sourwood Honey' is nearly as clear as water, and has a light smell of lilacs. It also has a very distinct wonderful taste, that you will never forget!


----------



## Riskybizz

Our sourwood was extra-light to light amber color and extremely aromatic. We used to make a lot before they cut it all down in our area and planted pine trees. Pure sourwood is very very slow to granualte and some never does.


----------



## redsox1

For me it seems that some batch's are clear, meaning very little suspended matter, and sometimes it is cloudy. I use the same technique every the time. I don't mind either way as long as the customer is happy!


----------

