Raw honey. Organic honey. Pure honey. Active honey. Manuka honey... all these labels are confusing to most people. Are they the same thing? Or different? Is raw honey and organic honey the same thing? In this short post we clear the myths behind each of these labels.
SHOP RAW ORGANIC HONEY
Raw honey is honey that has not been pasteurised (heat treated) above 45C and has not had its pollen filtered out. It frequently crystallises quickly due to its high pollen content. Examples of raw honey include raw honey sold on the internet, in independent food shops and local honey sold at farmers markets.
Supermarkets do not sell raw honey because they crystallise quickly. And when honey begins to crystallise, unaware consumers stop buying it because they think it has had sugar added to it.
What is organic honey?
Organic honey is honey that is free of chemicals and antibiotics. Organic honey has been independently certified to come from a bee hive that is 5 to 8 miles away from the nearest artificial chemical source, i.e. roads, factories, houses, etc.
This is why no honey produced in the UK is organic, because it is not possible to place bee hives 5 to 8 miles from pollutants in the UK due to the population density. It is illegal to sell or market a honey as "organic" if it has not been certified by a government approved organic control body.
If a honey labelled as "organic" does not have the code of the certifier, e.g. GB-ORG-04, DE-OKO-001, etc. on the label, then it is not organic.
Is Raw honey and organic honey the same thing?
No. Raw means not pasteurised or filtered. Organic means certified free of chemicals. So honey can be raw and organic, raw but not organic, and organic but not raw. They are two different things.
For example, honey produced by a local English beekeeper is raw but not organic, and organic honey sold in a supermarket is organic but not raw.
References:
Jantakee & Tragoolpua (2015), Biological Research
Moura Kadri et al. (2016), Food Chemistry
In accordance with EU directive 1924/2006 we are unable to make any health claims about our honey. The information above relates to the plants from which this honey originates and should not be inferred as a direct claim about the honey itself.