Why Supermarket Honey is FAKE

Anyone who knows anything about bees at this point also knows that honey is just about one of the craziest miracles of the natural world. There’s a lot of buzz about honey these days, but here’s the thing: a lot of what we have access to isn’t actually honey. So... What is it then?
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For further reading, check out the sources for this video here:
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Script: Holly Maley
Editor: Reid Valaitis
Lead Editor: Kirsten Stanley
Project Manager: Lurana McClure Rodríguez
Host: Levi Hildebrand
Want to work with Future Proof? Suggestions? Hate mail? Get in touch with the project manager, Lu: [e-mail]

[@preciousplasticph]

As a former beekeeper and we ran over 2000 hives and had a bottling plant that bottled over a million pounds of honey per year, I can tell you that when the pollen is not super filtered people would reject it and take back to the store saying it is "dirty' We used to only use a mesh sock to strain the honey but ended up having to use a filter bag precisely because of this. Second, Chinese imported honey has been a plague since the 80's. Third, Much of what they call honey is actually invert sugar. Invert sugar is white sugar boiled with citric acid that converts it to what the Brits call "Golden Syrup" you can find many videos on how to make it. to go from golden syrup to fake honey, you need some aromatic flower scent. Pandan extract, rose water, a little bit of grape and just a tiny amount are some common additives. I myself have experimented in the kitchen learning how to make it and it is surprisingly close to the real thing in taste, color, aroma, and mouth feel. Lastly in the USA labeling something that is not 100% pure honey as honey is a big criminal violation. I can guarantee you that at least in the USA, your competitors will be sending bottles of your product to labs for testing. We often sent our competition honey to the labs and occasionally we did get corn syrup branded as honey back in the lab results. We would inform the distributor and that product would get pulled ASAP. Mainly because product liability for adulterated food goes all the way from the supermarket to the producer. However IF you label it as Honey syrup. Like Popeyes does, it is not legally honey. It does not have to contain any honey. You could also say honey flavored syrup in small lettering and get away with it under USA law.

[@chelseyaustin6015]

Upvote!!!! I really hate people like this spreading misinformation to try and convince people conventional farming practices are bad. Like...if it's so easy, you feel 8million people daily.

[@2unknown]

@@chelseyaustin6015 seriously. The whole dramatization was distasteful.

[@MercenarySed]

Thank u for this. Knew this shit was a waste of time

[@MW9X12]

@@chelseyaustin6015 well it aint misinformation if it's true, honey. what about conventional farming do you think is beneficial to the soil/ecology? it's a race to the cheapest possible price per calorie, USA is on it's way to 100% corn-fed fat fucks ASAP

[@olivier-pierredebelmont.3630]

Thanks.I know also,living when I was young 60years ago,so much good was the real honey from the Swiss alps,made by people in love with their bees! Now,living in Cambodia,I eat only the name honey,but I know that,coming from china and so cheap,it is sugar that I eat. I don't care anymore,but for people having childs,it is a disaster!😢

[@21kaduku]

The part about people throwing honey out when it starts crystalizing makes me so upset. It took me a while to convince my wife that the honey was not bad once it started doing that.

[@Quince828]

In the olden days the honey tin had an instruction on it that my dad (who had been a hobby beekeeper) was fond of reciting. “All honey will crystallize with age. Simply place in a pot of warm water to return it to its former state.”

[@philthethotdestroyer4194]

honey has been found in ancient egyptian sites, although crystalized it was still edible. honey does not go bad.

[@demontank76]

I love the almost crunchy texture of crystalized honey!!

[@SmokeyPyro]

Totally agree, its like thousands of little creatures worked their asses off, had to barf in eachothers mouth just to create that

[@SmokeyPyro]

Totally agree, its like thousands of little creatures worked their asses off, had to barf in eachothers mouth just to create that

[@mohicanyt]

Hey, Beekeeper and Apitherapist here. We used to have so many complaints because the buyers honey went crystalized. We had to message everyone who complained, and eventually put it in the label itself. If you sell honey, put a little disclaimer about crystalization and why it works. Sending the same message/email everyday 2-3 times will make you insane😂

[@Thestargazer56]

Back in the late 1970s-1980s we sold honey for $2-$3.00 a pound and could hardly give dark honey away which always tasted better to me.

[@kaerligheden]

We need to learn more about honey!! That way we may protect ourselves from fake honey! My family had bad experience with beekeepers, that we know a lot of time, and they sold us bad honey, after some time we notice that the honey separated in two, one liquid part and the other one solid... We were ashamed to say anything, but we din't buy from him anymore... And always trying to find real honey. We don't buy on stores... Directly from beekeepers, but it's not guaranteed either.

[@mohicanyt]

@@kaerligheden You can guarantee and test honey by taking a sample (if you have time and if you can get a sample) and crystalizing it. If it crystalizes, you can for sure know that the honey is authentic. If it doesn't, then it's fake.

[@mohicanyt]

@@Thestargazer56 It depends on the person which honey tastes better. For example, I prefer Manuka and chestnut honey. My brother, on the other hand, loves Linden honey. It highly depends on the person. As for price, honey, at least in the south Balkans is going for 15-25€ per kg.

[@kaerligheden]

@@mohicanyt thank you, now I know, but I wish I could know before buying...

[@walter_lesaulnier]

Here in Kentucky, in the 1990s, I found a local beekeeper that planted a HUGE field of blackberries for his bees to feed on the blackberry flowers. He produced real raw honey with a bit of the comb in it and it was the most delicious substance I've ever had in my life.

[@ponolovefarms3926]

We have blackberry honey in southern Oregon and it is definitely one of the most delicious honeys out there.

[@tango_uniform]

Try tupelo honey from Apalachicola, Fla. It's the bomb.

[@WhatsTheBuzz]

As a beekeeper, I have exhausted myself many times trying to explain why the honey I produce tastes different then what is sold in stores, as well as why it will crystalize after about a year, often a lot less time. If you wait for the bees to remove enough moisture, the water content of the honey will be lower. It will be thicker, and it will crystalize sooner. Still, the bees know what they are doing. Too high a moisture content and it can ferment. If it's low enough it will keep forever, but you will get crystals. If you don't like them, you can warm the jar up for a few hours, they will desolve. Do not heat it above about 140f or you will wreck it. Each hive (here in the NE) needs about 80 pounds of honey so they can make it through the winter. That means some years I do not harvest anything. People don't understand that. "Why don't you have any honey, did your bees die?" No, but I don't want them to! They have to have food when there is snow on the ground!

[@JustAnotherBuckyLover]

@@squirrelcovers6340 different FROM* No need to be picking holes over what may well be a typo, especially over a non-standard grammatical usage anyway. 😉

[@bobjacobson858]

@@JustAnotherBuckyLover FWIW, in the UK, "different TO" is used. My mother taught high school English, and I'm somewhat of a language nerd, but I don't feel the need to "correct" everything I see in comments, especially if what has been typed is perfectly understandable.

[@JustAnotherBuckyLover]

@@bobjacobson858 Then your mother taught you wrong, Bob - or more likely, you're just talking out of your behind. Because the CORRECT grammatical form taught in the UK is "different from". It's always been "similar to" and "different from". I have post-secondary English language qualifications too. Also, you completely missed the point of my comment. Which was calling out the previous commenter who was, in fact, being the actual "grammar nazi" and pointlessly correcting someone unnecessarily. But go off, I guess. You might want to work on your reading comprehension as well as your grammar, too. 😂🤦

[@leefranklin3054]

working my way through a quart of local honey that is mostly crystalized at this point. I don't understand the issue with it in that state, melts fine in tea and I rather like the texture on my toast, thank you. Good to know that is one way to identify real honey. Also, drop me in some comb, and no need to ultra purify... I know where it comes from, don't bother me a bit.

[@nahor88]

@@leefranklin3054 Consumers, American consumers in particular, are spoiled little prisses. They want their products to be pretty and perfect, not realizing nature itself is messy. Number 1, Honey is mostly sugar, and we eat way too much sugar to begin with. Number 2, via Number 1, it's not a big deal to spend a little more on raw honey, which does crystallize after some time but is still perfectly usable and never spoils. You shouldn't be using that much in the first place. If you look at most commercially available products, they reek of consumer ignorance, cuz that's what the large corporations want.

[@ogo108]

I buy local honey and it is so much better than anything you can get from a supermarket. Also great to find sustainable and responsible beekeepers and support them!

[@FutureProofTV]

Amen to that! The taste factor is undeniable for sure 👀

[@tehyas4622]

Plus local honey can help with pollen allergies!

[@enduringbird]

​@@tehyas4622unfortunately that's not true. All the scientific studies that have checked have not found evidence to support that. Check out the asthma and allergy foundation of America for a good summary. It definitely doesn't hurt though. While we're at it, that stupid plastic on the banana stem doesn't do anything either.

[@Artofcarissa]

Same, my bf always hated honey when I bought it from the super market because it always had that off after taste to it. I even tried raw honey from sprouts but it still wasn’t as good as fresh made honey from the farmers market

[@andresvalera1430]

I don't travel a lot but when I do i like to buy local honey, it's surprising the difference the local ecosystem makes in the taste. One problem with local honey (at least here in argentina) is that there's little to no regulations, heck it could even be watered down, ideally you'd find what organization checks the quality of honey in your country and buy with their approval.

[@tjs114]

Living in the center of California's Almond Growing region, there are literally thousands of beehives, and nearly every bee company sells honey in Ball canning jars. Most of the bee keeper companies are generational -- fifth, sixth and longer generations. The move the hives between orchards of almonds, peaches, cherries and other stone fruits during pollination season. After the orchards are done, the hives move to strawberry fields, and melon fields, then to tomatoes and corn. Once those fields are done, the hives are moved to the silage fields of clover, mustard and others. The winters, which are rarely hard enough here to cause the bees to hibernate, see the hives moved to the South San Joaquin citrus orchards.

[@carolynridlon3988]

I do remember this very well - having lived in central valley of CA most of my life. Had to leave because of the almonds & their pollens was causing my hubby to develop severe breathing issues, but always seeing the beehives everywhere is some you don't forget .

[@phillee2814]

Honey bees cannot pollinate tomatoes, as their tongues can't reach deep enough into the flowers to reach the nectar and the pollen is too deep for the bees to brush against it. Smaller pollinators can do it just fine though, and larger pollinators, like bumblebees, can shake the flower so vigorously that they shake pollen and nectar out. Bees do not hibernate, although they will go into a state of torpor, and it is good when they go into a partial state of torpor as they need less energy to get through winter - if they don't you'd almost never get a surplus from them. They do form a cluster, and the colder it gets, the tighter that cluster will be, to provide warmth for the queen and the (very small quantity of) brood that she will produce in winter. Worker bees in the cluster can disconnect the muscles in their thoraxes from their wings and just vibrate them like us shivering, to generate enough heat inside that cluster of bees to keep the queen and brood warm, while other bees are warmed just enough to move inside the hive to collect condensation from the inner walls and pass it to each other so that they can digest honey, which has to be thick for storage but has to be diluted for metabolising. The cluster moves upwards in the hive through the winter, warming the honey it covers as it moves up so that it can be used. The colder it is, the tighter the cluster and the less heat needs to be generated to keep the queen and brood warm, meaning the bees need far more honey to survive a warm winter than a cold one, just because they are more active and use more energy. If you want a decent honey, get to know a local beekeeper, and ideally, learn how to keep them yourself. You can get away with feeding bees pure white sugar syrup (2 parts sugar to one of water by weight, and you will need to heat the water) to top off their winter supply in the autumn if you take a bit too much, but you should never allow any comb that has been in the hive when you do that to be harvested. It isn't honey, it is bee-processed sugar syrup. Honey can only come from floral sources or from honeydew-producing insects. And if you add up the total production of beekeepers which goes into the commercial market, it is less than half of what is sold on supermarket shelves each year, which is all the proof you need that there is a heck of a lot of funny hunny out there. But migratory beekeeping is far from sustainable. It spreads disease and produces horrible bee stock that can't survive without heavy treatment against all the diseases that they never get the chance to develop a means of dealing with. The farmers of the crops should be less greedy and mix their crops up so that they can have their own hives on their own farms and those bees can make it through the year on what is available to them locally.

[@andywolan]

Wow, I see they kept the bees busy as, well, bees, all year round.

[@chefgiovanni]

@@carolynridlon3988 I love that CALI honey. Hard to find the honest beekeepers selling it. Let's get cooking.

[@keinlieb3818]

I've also seen so called "locally sourced raw honey" being a scam as well. I've seen where they buy honey from the store, change the container and just double the price and say that it's locally sourced raw honey. Just like I've seem so called farmers at farmer's markets will buy produce from grocery stores, take the labels off and resell them as marked up goods. Good luck finding food that isn't a scam.

[@inharmonywithearth9982]

One fake beekeeper in my area has only one beehive. A 2 frame observation hive at the nature center building at a state park. It has his name and honey business number advertisement. He buys barrels of Chinese fake honey from 5 hours drive away, jars it up and puts a " local honey" label. His honey is at the farmers markets and local stores. Everyone buys it and doesnt care. I suspect he has my bees poisoned occasionally because he sells honey twice as much as mine.

[@olilumgbalu5653]

Good luck finding anything that isn't a scam these days...buying cars, buying houses, buying food, buying plane tickets, etc.

[@happycamperproducts]

I've always wondered why honey was so cheap at the supermarket. There was no way they could harvest that much honey for that low of a price.

[@FutureProofTV]

Exaaaaactly 👀👀

[@rainecolubio]

Where I live, fake honey is the same price as local honey. The choice was easy there once I found where to buy them. Some of our groceries here don’t have local honey or they put them literally on the lowest shelf. Imported honey is incredibly expensive. In the middle of the shelf, you get “HONEY(in huge letters) flavored syrup (in much smaller letters)”

[@sihamhamda47]

​@@rainecolubio Basically it's just a liquid sugar with honey flavor I've seen many of those and most of them only has 0.5 to 1% of REAL honey in ingredients

[@JonasWilms]

Half of the shelf is vegan "honey" now, that's at least easy to spot.

[@kaltkalt2083]

Same here it should be a luxury item like caviar.

[@iXenox]

Fun fact: The flowers that the bees are (mostly) surrounded by affect the taste of the honey quite significantly, if you get honey from multiple places you might like some more than others

[@FutureProofTV]

What?!? Did not know this, that's awesome!

[@JohnDir-xw3hf]

Not only taste but color and consistency also.

[@spaceracer23]

There are studies that show that local honey can help with allergies as it exposes your immune system to a treated version of the pollen that is the allergen.

[@cosmic_drew]

My mom's neighbors are beekeepers here in Arkansas. We get honey from them all the time. One summer it tasted just like peaches. I always hope when I get honey from them again it will have that peach taste, but it's still always amazing. It absolutely taste like the smell of our fields in our area. I'm actually drinking green tea with some of the honey in it right now.

[@dianapennepacker6854]

​@@FutureProofTVYesh there are different types of honey due to this. Citrus blossim honey for instance carriers citrus like notes. I did buy some yet my taste buds are trash so I can't taste it sadly. Yet others say yeah it is good. Honey is like the supplement market it seems TBH. A lot of false advertisement so you absolutely have to be careful I hear to stay away from different brands due to the fact they themselves have been sold by their sources regular honey as something else. Some shady bee keepers are a thing!

[@jolo3118]

Ive been trying to tell my hubby about the honey scam for YEARS and i finally have something to back it up. The very first giveaway is how cheap "honey" is in the grocery store. REAL honey is pretty damn expensive and crystalizes when exposed to air. I remember having peanut butter and honey sandwiches when I was a kid in the 70s/80s and i loved that little crunch the honey would have. I know, i was a weird kid. Lol

[@lisaphares2286]

I remember it too. Sometimes I would have honey open face sandwiches and the honey would thicken on the bread and get crunchy. Sooo good.

[@Tom-cn4cm]

You and I have the opposite experience. The cheapest bottle of honey at the grocery stores for me always crystalize.

[@jolo3118]

@@Tom-cn4cm Are you in here in the states or somewhere else? I only ask because it seems the US is the only place that it's 100 percent legal to sell fake honey and pass it off as real honey.

[@davy2365]

@@jolo3118 that happens here in UK too, there used to be penalties for false advertising but they don't seem to be enforced nowadays, they would probably have to take the majority of products off the shelf.

[@niatscreations4913]

​@@jolo3118 happens in eu to

[@timg6252]

Honey without pollen might still be called honey but doesn't offer the same benefits. Thomas is spot on. Having "local" pollen in your honey is a very effective hayfever preventative.

[@Thestargazer56]

The royal jelly is even more potent for health reasons.

[@ropro9817]

Yes, please make a video--or three--about corn and how that whole industry has taken over agriculture! 🙏

[@FutureProofTV]

Can do! Love the enthusiasm 😁😁

[@piqueasso]

Would definitely watch that. Also, I read somewhere that corn sugar - used in the US - is a major contributor to obesity, whereas beet sugar in Europe has a "healthier" effect on our metabolism. Unfortunately, I can't find the article right now.

[@ropro9817]

@@FutureProofTV Looking forward to it! 🤠❤

[@maryjohnson9337]

Can’t wait to s the it! Omnivore’s Dilemma is one of my favorite books

[@KaytlynNichole]

@@FutureProofTV Omgg I can't wait for this one!!

[@PotatoSoup0175]

We once got asked "What do you feed your bees", to which we responded "If you have to feed your bees, you got greedy and took off too much for the winter and you're doing it wrong". Also, if you want to help bees, plant trees, not just flowers. Trees have more surface area and flowers for the same amount of land. Added bonus is you also get fruit.

[@mathgasm8484]

I plant both. I give bee feed to get hives going from splits or new hives. Usually to draw out comb during non honey producing months.

[@YippingFox]

Might as well double dip and plant some flowers underneath those trees, right?

[@Animebryan2]

Another added bonus with trees, they convert carbon dioxide into oxygen. The Earth & everyone in it can't live without that.

[@larryblake3048]

Some years are dry and less blooms for bees to feed on, some years late frost kills blooms. There are several reason a beekeeper has to feed his bees to keep them alive, some years they only make enough honey to sustain themselves over winter. They are several reasons why feeding them is a necessity at times.

[@Narangarath]

@@YippingFox It may or may not work depending on the type of trees and flowers, growing anything under trees can be very challenging.

[@ghw7192]

When I see cheap honey, I check the ingredients before putting it back on the shelf.

[@bucc5207]

4:40 Thank you for mentioning other bee species It adds credibility and fosters trust in your channel. Respect.

[@dazzle3m]

🙄

[@steffimaier7297]

I remember going to a Dollarstore where they sold "honey" candies. The ingredients caught me by surprise: it was a long list of different things EXCEPT Honey.

[@Tokru86]

Such things as "honey" candles don't exist. Those are candles made of bee's wax. Bees produce both. Wax and honey. Of course in the most cheapest store they lie about everything and there might not even be genuine bee's wax in those candles.

[@Narangarath]

@@Tokru86 While you're correct on all points, the original comment is talking about canDIEs, not canDLEs. Easy mistake to make on a small screen. 🙂

[@manictiger]

I look at foods at the dollar tree as a joke, although, sometimes I'm surprised to find actual food. It's kind of neat to see "sugar", "cocoa" or any other real ingredients, instead of "corn syrup", "high fructose corn syrup" and "hydroxytryglycerouraniumhexaflouride 2, 4-D".

[@steffimaier7297]

@@manictiger Same here. Also recently found some weirder fakes from chinese companies such as: fake rice, fake eggs, fake beer, etc.

[@boisegameshowguy]

Sorry to break your heart, but ... everything at the dollar store is cheap on purpose. They get more profit selling less natural ingredients.

[@TroyBrophy]

We have two hives in our garden. The first time I tasted the raw honey straight from the hive I was astonished by how complex the flavor was. So much more floral and fruity than any honey I'd purchased from a store.

[@nahor88]

Brah please elaborate on this story... how on earth did you manage to get the honey from the live hives? lol.

[@TroyBrophy]

@@nahor88 You know, you don't destroy a hive when you harvest honey, right? You only take out a portion of the hive and leave the rest for the colony to thrive on.

[@nahor88]

@@TroyBrophy Um, when did I imply that you destroyed anything??? You said you have hives in your garden, you didn't say you're a beekeeper. That's why I wanted more details. Jeez such negativity.

[@TroyBrophy]

@@nahor88 ok "Brah"

[@nahor88]

@@TroyBrophy I'm sorry you're an old fogey that doesn't get millenial lingo. There, you see how unnecessary that negativity was?

[@xcoder1122]

While honey does contain a few minerals, vitamins, and proteins, >99% of it consists out of only three ingredients: Fructose (aka fruit sugar, 21-44%), Glucose (normal sugar, 22-41%) and the rest is water. And you know what you get, when you buy crystal sugar in the supermarket? It's a mixture of 50% Fructose and 50% Glucose, so basically it's honey without water, since the other ingredients in honey are neglectable and are easily obtained by plenty of other foods you consume every single day. BTW, corn syrup is at least 5% fructose and the rest is mainly glucose and water, so it's not that much different to honey and from an energy perspective, there is no difference at all, as fructose and glucose have the same amount of energy per gram. So this not a problem for bees energy-wise, it may only be a problem in terms of missing minerals, vitamins or proteins, meaning it is less healthy for the bees but the video makes it sound like bees could starve and that is nonsense, it is as energetic as true honey, if not even more. And last but no least, honey in European supermarkets is true honey. Every sell anything as honey that isn't and the regulation fines will break the neck of your company. Honey is sold by well known companies that cannot afford to ruin their business by selling anything else, Further you can always visit a beekeeper on the country side that sell their own honey; they will be more than happy to show you their entire production and let you watch extract the honey right before your own eyes.

[@passionatedevice5312]

As a bee keeper and also a realist, the video starts at 7:52

[@ttopero]

I use raw honey in my lemon water every morning. It’s not been easy to find an affordable resource for unadulterated, raw honey, so when you do, treat the distributor and producers well. Get to know them, visit a producer if available & share it with other locals who can access quality products. Asking genuine questions is a sign of respect. & what they share can tell you the quality of their products.

[@FutureProofTV]

Great tips! It's all about fostering that sense of community hey?

[@jodylecompte]

Best advice for finding affordable raw honey is to buy and bulk and to follow the mead makers

[@EsotericBibleSecrets]

I get Nates 100% pure raw and unfiltered honey, it's the most expensive you can get at Walmart. I also write LOVE AND GRATITUDE on the back of the container as well as all my water bottles. Water is alive and has been scientifically verified to respond to sound, emotions, etc. Experiments were conducted with putting different labels on jars. Adding Love and Gratitude to your bottles will surprise you with it's benefits. Water bottles with these words added will not start to stink. For Honey, adding these words seems to slow down the rate of Crystalization and improves the taste once it does, but I only just started doing this on honey.

[@user-xn4dq6wo7p]

@@jodylecompte ni just find a honey producer :)

[@rev4449]

​@@EsotericBibleSecretswhat the fuck

[@beniaminmarin1596]

In traditional beekeeping which my family does, the beehive has two compartments: the nest and the storage box. The nest is twice as big as the storage and honey is harvested only from the latter. Also, honey is not filtered but only passed through a sieve and never pasteurized.

[@EmeraldHill-vo1cs]

Beecause heat of a certain temp. will kill off the natural antibiotics etc.

[@SophiaZofia]

As someone who always buys local honey since I was a little child I was always surprised at the packaging of storebought honey because you can't squeeze crystalized honey and 90% of my honey was crystalized cuz we would buy a couple of them at a time and would last us for a very long time

[@ALajProductionFilm]

I did a gut health program a while back and it explained the benefits of local sourced raw honey. Honey has never tasted so good! And I love to use it to substitute sugar in my cooking!

[@ZealotOfSteal]

I'd never heard of "raw honey", because I didn't think there was honey that isn't "raw". A quick search led me to discover that honey is, at least in some cases, pasturized. Apparently: "Pasteurization of honey reduces the chance of fermentation and also delays granulation. " This is honestly baffling to me, when stored in a cool, dry place, honey has years long shelf life. I've also never heard of honey fermenting on it's own. Another quick search revealed why, it needs to have moisture above 17% to have a chance at fermenting, which would essentially mean taking out the honey from the hive before it's ready.

[@JAndersonGhost0326]

I'm an amateur mead brewer and I've made mead both with honey from a local apiary and from the grocery store, and I can tell you the difference is night and day. Local honey not only helps with allergies, but can often be cheaper to buy in bulk if you make friends with a neighborhood bee keeper!

[@robertawalsh2995]

I bake with honey and was casual about it, mostly using local but sometimes not, without giving it any thought but one time I ran out and picked up some honey at the grocery store. When I tasted my cake, it was crap! It didn't take long to figure out that the grocery store honey had ruined it. It said honey on the label but I'm betting that it wasn't. That was when I started to really pay attention to the honey I was using. Now I bake with local honey exclusively.

[@tiagobelo4965]

if they're anything like the good people around these parts, don't forget to give the beekeeper a bottle or two from time to time, they'll appreciate it

[@KamilOwnz]

Hey Future Proof, I'm a beekeeper. I haven't watched the whole video yet but I wanted to let you know that most honey doesn't have the biological components that health articles boast about. The biological components all die at 98 degrees Fahrenheit according to Prof. John Skinner from University of Tennessee. "Heating up to 37°C (98.6 F) causes loss of nearly 200 components, part of which are antibacterial." Wooden hives/bottling tanks/shipping can all cook the honey and all you're left with is flavored syrup. Some beekeepers, including myself, use insulated hives to prevent that from happening and take extra care to make sure you get all the goodies with the honey. Another thing I wanted to point out is that every hive needs to be treated with chemicals to kill varroa mite. The honey labels don't have to include the chemicals but many of them are undesirable. Treatment free honey can be bought, although it's usually more expensive since it's unsustainable.

[@Larsoff]

This is actually really cool info. Thanks for sharing! I'm learning about apiculture, and I was wondering about the management of Nosema, how common it is, and how detrimental this parasite is in your experience?

[@KamilOwnz]

@@Larsoff It's not terribly common. Of course every beekeeper has the nosema scare when they come out of winter and the bees all come out of the hive after the winter and start pooping everywhere. Nosema isn't too hard to treat, but of course when you treat you have to make an effort to take the honey supers off so that none of the treatment gets mixed in with your honey. Happy to answer questions.

[@FutureProofTV]

This is super interesting, thank you so much for sharing!!

[@hadrast]

Corrections: 1. Treatment-free beekeeping exists, ergo 2. not every hive needs chemicals to treat varroa, and 3. while it scales poorly, can certainly be sustainable, especially on a smaller scale. This is another reason to try to get honey locally; you're more likely to find someone willing to put up with the additional complications of treatment-free beekeeping on a hobby level.

[@KamilOwnz]

@@hadrast besides your first point, which isn’t a correction of anything I said, your comment directly conflicts with the entire scientific beekeeping body and the authority of varroa research and treatment, Randy Oliver. He is the closest anyone has gotten to treatment free beekeeping and he only has a 25% success rate with VHS queens. I browse the treatment free section of the beesource forum and nobody has figured it out. Please dont spread misinformation.

[@mrblanche]

A minor point. Canada is also North American. And I always find this interesting, because my first job, when I was 14, was working for a beekeeper in Colorado. He told me then that a lot of honey in stores was adulterated. Yes, this was in 1966. I still watch honey for the signs he taught me then.

[@olilumgbalu5653]

What signs did he teach you to differentiate real from fake honey?

[@purityandplants]

I became an unapologetic Honey snob the first time I tried Honey from a local beekeeper! I could not believe how delicious it was. Can’t stand the store-bought stuff now

[@whatcanidooo]

I always thought of local, raw honey as a luxury that I don’t always need, but this video made me realize it’s about more than just the fact that it tastes better

[@filipbitala2624]

Who could have possibly guessed that its more expensive for a reason

[@iamhungey12345]

Made me appreciate these even more whenever we get them.

[@nszucs1]

I'm a beekeeper in central Ohio. This was well researched accurate! Thank you for helping to educate people about honey.

[@Mark_Agamotto1313_Smith]

I'm in Dayton, and would like to find a local source for occasional honey purchases. Are you close?

[@michellekrueger5122]

Fun face my husband was a bee keeper in California about 750 super hives, any ways he produced a lot of eucalyptus honey, it is clear enough to read print through, and taste like rich butterscotch...if you can order some it is exotic.

[@0fficialdregs]

Do you have a website or able to ship to other states?

[@MariaMartinez-researcher]

I think this problem doesn't happen everywhere. Chilean here, lived some time in Argentina. It amazed me to find that the honey at the supermarket was not real honey. It was there in the labels, the proportion of honey vs. different kinds of sugar syrup. I didn't find honey anywhere; maybe there was at health stores, but I didn't see it. In Chile, agricultural country, it is not allowed to call honey something that it isn't 100%. It happens with other products too, like combinations of milk powder with other foods aren't labelled "milk" but "dairy beverage," soy milk is "soy food" or "soy beverage," and very notably, wine has to be 100% fermented grape juice. Honey is honey, and most of it gets crystallized, which most people find is a signal of natural quality. There's some market for ultrapurified honey for the ones who prefer have it liquid all the time, but that's where most of the processing stops. Never seen honey mixed with sugar syrup at any supermarket.

[@antonchilinski9729]

America is unique in the degree to which we are subjugated to food adulteration for the sake of profit.

[@phantomsender4642]

Something I noticed that many years ago, the honey we bought in the store would eventually begin to crystalize. However for the last few years now, using the same brand, you can "lose" a jar of honey in the cabinet and it never crystalizes. Now I know why the things I add honey to, no longer taste like they used to, and I thought it was just me.

[@jimmy999S]

I'm from Greece, a lot of people here have a honey guy, a hobby or professional beekeeper that may or may not have a proper small business. In my family we buy pine honey, most people here do since more is produced but I just googled it seems to me like it's not really consumed much in NA, if you haven't tried it give it a shot, it's awesome, especially over Greek yogurt.

[@FutureProofTV]

Pine honey sounds like nectar of the gods and we will be on the lookout for this stuff for the rest of our days 😅😅

[@user-xn4dq6wo7p]

that Paz marijuana guy made honey from his marijuana garden about ten years ago. amazing stuff

[@adamesd3699]

@@notfiveoWhat did they replace the honey with?

[@mbburry4759]

I didn't know pine honey was a thing. They don't have flowers. But looked it up, and apparently the bees are collecting honeydew off another insect to make it - learned something new

[@brendancurtin679]

Not surprising coming from a country that makes and drinks restina. Man, that stuff is definitely an acquired taste (and I haven't acquired it). I'm sure pine honey is much better, but I can't help but be a little suspicious... lol.

[@Aussie_Truth]

In NSW Australia, there was a varroa mite outbreak detected at the Newcastle port in 2022, so every hive within a 10km - 50km radius had to be destroyed. Firsty the hives at the port are stationed there permanently for the sole purpose of checking for this mite. However, it was weeks before they [the department of primary industries] realised the mite had gotten into the local community and out of the port.🤔 It was heartbreaking to watch the local 'hobby farmers' up to > 50km away from the port, have their entire colonies euthanased without being given the opportunity of having their hives TESTED to see if they were infected with the mite. These farmers have NO chance of recovering because they have to wait THREE years before even starting another colony. Since the Varroa mite isn't established in Australia and the experts say the bee's aren't immune to the pesticides that kill the mite, it was suggested to hang pesticide strips on the entrances to the hives so as each bee entered it would coat itself in this poison and eradicate this mite. But, NO, that wasn't good enough for the department of primary industries. They proceeded to DESTROY thousands of hives, millions of bees, and the livelihoods of hundreds of small business owners. I believe this episode in 2022 was just another way of removing the smaller farmers from the local and international markets, making way for the multinationals to take full control of another entire industry. Big business monopolized our milking industry and, in doing so, put thousands of local dairy farmers out of business. They are now in the process of doing the same thing to our local bee, sheep, pig, and cattle industries. Unfortunately, even though we watch farmers around the world protesting, we as consumers don't bother to help them. We continually purchase the cheapest products at the supermarkets and do not support the local farmers' markets. Whenever possible, BUY LOCAL.

[@N4CR5]

I heard of some beekeepers using copper wires/strips on hive entrances to kill varroa, so the bees crawl over/rub onto the wire.. Copper is highly nasty to small organisms due to electric charge it carries. It's why you spray copper/etc on plants for certain pests. Maybe worth a look into :) Can't hurt and doesn't take much time to set up.

[@millirabbit4331]

Buying local is a scam. Look it up. Many farmers markets have sellers who buy from wholesalers and rebrand it to be "organic" or "homegrown"

[@Aussie_Truth]

@millirabbit4331 I don't agree, it might be like that in your area. But in every country areas we've ever lived the people selling the honey are the people with their own hives.

[@borderlineiq]

@@Aussie_Truth The greater problem is income. Organic foods and local are inherently more expensive. When such a large population of underpaid workers are unable to afford the difference, they choose affordable. This is worsened by other costs like housing and transportation being jacked by greedy multinationals. So, the problem isn't the consumer but the governments and regulations, the very Best governments money can buy.

[@monahelmgens3703]

@@millirabbit4331 hardley.. most regional towns have a very active bee keeping community and we have access to local honey. It really is not good business to do what you say.

[@ediewall6360]

Yes, I heard the fake honey issue a couple of years ago. And with REAL honey, it needs to be TESTED for glycosphate. That also goes for organic and small local honey

[@DefaultFlame]

While these "fake" honeys do exist in our stores in Sweden the majority is real stuff. It's usually crystalized, some crystalized to the point that you carve it out of the jar more than spoon it out. I also buy locally made when I can, as it's usually tastier.

[@thjones2]

Sadly, it's worse than "honey bees are getting wiped out", it's all the other pollinators (that both do the bulk of the work and do a better job of it) that are getting wiped out. But a lot of people don't pay attention to those other pollinators because they don't make honey.

[@KB-ke3fi]

So, kind of like taxpayers who work and then there's the welfare recipients are off kilter.

[@Slavolko]

But I hate mosquitos!

[@joejones4296]

I'm a beekeeper. What you said is exactly right.

[@spvillano]

@@joejones4296 and no real progress in figuring out colony collapse disorder. Thankfully, it's looking like nature is figuring it out. After a decade of seeing nearly zero honeybees, I'm seeing a *lot* of them now. Including one pair of bees on a sunflower that were around 2/3 normal length.

[@kamma44]

And a lot of people don't bother to inform others but just make random statements about people not paying attention?!

[@NothingXemnas]

Really funny to me that honey crystalizing is seen as bad when anyone who consumes it realizes how freaking sweet it is; honey is over 75% sugar, so NOT to crystalize is absurd to even expect. It is also common practice to do bain-marie to redissolve the sugar crystals.

[@guillermomonroy7319]

today I learned what a bain-marie is (a double boiler!/water bath)

[@sashkad9246]

@@guillermomonroy7319 just warm it up in the microwave for like half a minute, same but less fuss.

[@timoeveraers336]

@@sashkad9246 This might destroy some precious enzymes though. Just leave it crystallized and it won't slide off your bread 🤤

[@philthethotdestroyer4194]

they have found edible honey in ancient egyptian sites.

[@ixchelssong]

​@sashkad9246 My mom did that a couple of days ago, and found it quickly melted all over the floor of the microwave. 😂😅

[@larschapman3329]

This whole video was an EXTREMELY long-winded way of saying that some honey suppliers (mostly from Asia) were adding fillers to their honey like corn syrup and sugar cane; now that these substances are detectable, they have moved to rice syrups.

[@MegaLokopo]

How do we know they aren't lying about being certified?

[@JoeBatwinis]

The whole Corn/Corn Syrup story is definitely in Future Proof's swim lane.

[@FutureProofTV]

🏊‍♂️on our way!

[@offgridlowtech]

Been talking about this 5+ years, I put together a database of 300+ real honey suppliers. Glad to see this story getting some air. Food adulteration is a bigger rabbit hole than people even know. Well done for educating people, this is the tip of the iceberg though.

[@stevenn1940]

The one I find funny is canned "pumpkin." Used to be purely pumpkin, but a few started cutting it with butternut squash. Those brands got more popular for being tastier. Cut to today, and all brands use 100% butternut squash. The funniest bit of all is that, in this essentially blind taste taste experiment, people prefer butternut squash. But if you offer it to them AS butternut squash, they refuse.

[@anon-kt7dc]

@@stevenn1940 Used to give that to my dog when he wouldn't eat

[@eggs2627]

Can. You share the list?

[@paulohlstein2236]

@@stevenn1940 Butternut squash is a superior product to orange jack-o-lantern pumpkin. I bake split butternut squash wrapped in aluminum foil and render it into a puree soup in the blender with some added water and soy sauce. I blend the whole thing, skin, and seeds included. The blender produces a smooth product with no hint of the seeds or skin. I do the same with acorn squash and Panama pumpkin.

[@cardboardboxification]

@@stevenn1940I love butternut squash soup , and pumpkin pie , both are my favorite

[@vincentmarotta9800]

Some things people claim to "test" if any given honey is raw and/or unfiltered. Take all of this with a grain of (hopefully not) salt: 1. Put in room-temp water. If you take room temp water, and put the honey in it, if it's raw pure, it'll sink quickly to the bottom and (for the most part) stay together. You'll actually be able to see it settle and sit on the bottom of a glass. If it's "fake" honey, then it'll diffuse easily (or entirely) in to the honey like adding sugar syrup or something. You'll actually be able to see the honey diffuse as it flows in the room temp water. 2. Put a pea-size amount on your thumb nail. Raw honey flows slowly, and will "ball up" for about 20-30 seconds on your fingernail. It will slowly spread out and eventually run off the sides, but after a long time. Fake honey will drop down, and almost immediately run off the sides of your thumb. Although not always the case, usually runny honey is indicative of fake honey. (This isn't true if the honey is brand-new, like, I got raw honey from a local bee keeper who said he just harvested and strained it a week ago, and it was very runny at first. Slowly it crystalized). 3. Look for white foam White foam that forms on top of your honey is a decent indication that your honey is raw. This is due to the unique processing method (it forms tiny harmless bubbles in the honey that float to the top, looking like foam). It is not fungus or mold, which I imagine would look very different. 4. Burn test Take a burnable piece of napkin and dip it in the honey. Put a flame to it. If it doesn't burn, it's Raw honey. If it does burn or catch on fire, it's due to whatever extra is put in the fake honey. 5. Crystallization Over time if your honey begins to form crystals or becomes thicker, then it's raw honey. There is a method of re-heating the honey in a water bath and glass jar, but I'm not entirely sure on how to safely do that. I find it's easier to take a knife, glob up the crystals, and mix it with seeds of choice like a granola bar. Lightly salted sunflower seeds with "Alfalfa" honey is so good. 6. True Source Certified I've never heard of this designation, however it appears to be legit. My thing is, I don't trust institutions that have the capacity to be corrupted and bought out. Always trust your own tests, and test out local farmers & beekeepers to then set up long-term relationships. 7. Organic Honey Loophole So in the US, there's this not very well known loophole that allows a company to label organic honey as 100% raw honey, even when it's NOT. How is that not illegal? It all has to do with a loophole involving food products that could also potentially be used in beauty products! What the loophole says is effectively "As long as a small amount of a substance is legit 100% raw honey, and you cut it with whatever else you want (ex. rice syrup), then you can legally STILL label it as 100% raw organic honey!" Pragmatically, I assume beauty lobbyists complained "Although our beauty product isn't 100% honey, we still want our customers to know the honey that is in it is legit 100% organic raw honey! So we should be allowed to label it as such!!" Then the government, after filling their pockets, said "Yeah that sounds alright." Then when honey producers looking to make more profit saw an opportunity, they said "Hey if this is in law, we could just claim our honey is 100% organic, but still cut it with other products!" so they did, and nobody is doing anything about it. So please check my work, and look up on youtube the tests I mentioned above. Best of luck, and update me with other tips I might not know.

[@GeckoHiker]

I have my own honeybees and a large vegetable and flower garden. Before learning about pollinators and beekeeping I only bought local honey from a reputable source that is about 15 miles from my homestead. Do it yourself or pay for real honey.

[@melvynasplett3399]

As a beekeeper for 47 years and at the age 82 it is getting harder and harder to do beekeeping and the winter losses are reaching up to 60% and in the winter of 2 years ago I lost 100%. Now each year I need to do splits to build my numbers up. I do not kill any developing queens and if they are strong enough they will give several swarms. A bit of advice for beekeepers make sure the queens you buy can hibernate for the winter

[@Thestargazer56]

I have fond memories of helping my mom and dad take honey back in the 1980s ( I was early inn my 30s at the time). Dad would talk to his bees and I did the smoker when I helped.

[@Mr.Peetersen]

Are mites still a problem?

[@tondekoddar7837]

Where did you source new bees 2 years ago ? Did it take long, where the queens from ?

[@danyramos8139]

When I was little I used to hate honey. I had only tried the extraprocessed stuff and I avoided it as much as I could. But then I visited an aunt who always believed in eating more naturally and she prepared a milk-and-honey remedy for my throat when I was sick and my life changed forever. She knew some local beekeepers who rotated their crops so that the bees always got something different and the taste is never quite the same but always delicious. Now I only buy a big jar that lasts me for (about) a year. It is kinda expensive but it is less than many subscriptions a year, so totally worth it!

[@SentientPickle]

not surprising that companies treat bees as poorly and as expendable as their employees. You can't expect a society that revolves around profit to self-regulate or to act in the best interests of anything or anyone but the executives and investors that want their growth and dividends

[@Wolfhound_81]

As a European living in the countryside, it's often so appalling to read how crazy the US market is.. similar story with the packaged white unhealthy thing they sell as bread, compared with what we in Europe understand as bread. I do most of my shopping in my local village supermarket (less than 20 parking lots available, can you imagine?) and they offer honey from a beekeeper from the next village over. Would never buy anything else.

[@czechgop7631]

Problem we get with European honey in the supermarkets is that it's a mix of many runs of honey from multiple countries and as such has an odd taste. Local is always better. Also, I think you meant parking spaces and not lots ;)

[@Wolfhound_81]

@@czechgop7631You're right ofc, not a native English speaker :)

[@czechgop7631]

@@Wolfhound_81 No worries, me neither :D

[@Wolfhound_81]

@@czechgop7631That much I expected from your name :D

[@TheCAB207]

I remember getting this honey in WA from a local beekeeper and because of the flowers the bees would go to the flavor was insane. It hard to describe but it tasted almost like burnt marshmello like. It was awesome

[@jennifermarlow.]

Bees will return to the same flowers. I had a jar of blueberry honey once, and oh my! It was so delicious; got in Bar Harbor, ME.

[@TheCAB207]

That's so cool! I'm from Portland Maine so that is cool to hear!@@jennifermarlow.

[@Paul-hr6yg]

It's not burned marshmallow 😂 it's over smoked honey

[@TheCAB207]

​@@Paul-hr6ygyou don't smoke honey🤦🏼‍♂️

[@mikelundquist4596]

​@@TheCAB207 yeah, I cannot keep it lit.

[@craigrwc]

Regarding corn... yes, yes you should. The corn thing is probably one of the biggest topics you can cover as far as I'm aware. It might take multiple parts. I'd love to hear what your team comes up with

[@George196207]

Using it to water down gas and claiming for the climate while driving down mileage by 25 % ! That a billionaire who made a fortune on it and drove food prices sky high ! Then again he can do a show on fake men fake woman and a dozen made up things calling themselves humans.

[@williamfreeman6935]

Yes! So much comes from corn. Ethanol, sweetener, syrup, food for both humans and livestock, biodegradable plastics and much more. This would be an amazing topic because of the enormous versatility of corn.

[@Tall_Order]

I made it a point years ago to get my honey from local people at farmers markets, ever since I read the ingredients of supermarket honey and discovered it was corn syrup.

[@kelly2558]

If you purchase some actual wildflower honey at a local farmers market, you will get one of Natures most wonderful products and, if you appreciate it like I do, you will never go back to the fake stuff sold in supermarkets.

[@idlewildwind]

You guys can have some of ours! The Swedish market is so saturated with imported honey that beekeepers literally have tons of local, ecological honey left over. Many of them consider going out of business because they can't sell their product, according to the national news from earlier this week.

[@jodyfulford8215]

They should consider making mead. It's super simple. They could do it as a local co-op and add value to the honey. I make great mead not because I'm a great mead maker but because the bees in Hawaii are great honey makers. All I do is add it to water and wait.

[@idlewildwind]

@@jodyfulford8215 Oh, that's what mead is?? Time to go read up on this, I feel!

[@czechgop7631]

They really should get together and invest in some marketing

[@fredcongress1967]

Can I order some of that Swedish honey?

[@iGotBulletproof-Insomnia]

I never understood what would be the difference between "local honey" and what i could buy from the grocery store. This video just explained what no one else has ever, thank you ^_^

[@FutureProofTV]

Glad it could help ya out! Thanks for taking the time to comment and show support 😀

[@EsotericBibleSecrets]

I get Nates 100% pure raw and unfiltered honey, it's the most expensive you can get at Walmart. I also write LOVE AND GRATITUDE on the back of the container as well as all my water bottles. Water is alive and has been scientifically verified to respond to sound, emotions, etc. Experiments were conducted with putting different labels on jars. Adding Love and Gratitude to your bottles will surprise you with it's benefits. Water bottles with these words added will not start to stink. For Honey, adding these words seems to slow down the rate of Crystalization and improves the taste once it does, but I only just started doing this on honey.

[@pikachuchujelly7628]

@EmeraldEyesEsoteric lol wut?

[@user-xn4dq6wo7p]

you can buy local products in a store too lol

[@iGotBulletproof-Insomnia]

@@user-xn4dq6wo7p you're misunderstanding my point. I didn't know what the difference was between local honey and not local honey. It all seemed to be the same thing.

[@Rimmsolin]

A few years ago I noticed KFC honey that I’d put on their amazing biscuits, tater funny and was slightly lighter and way less viscous. Turns out they changed it into “honey sauce” and were adding straight up corn syrup to it. So it was honey flavored sugar. I hate our profit at all costs model.

[@SeekingTheLoveThatGodMeans7648]

Part of the reason for this has to be to keep the packets from crystallizing.

[@Uprising771]

your channel is so entertaining and informative, thank you for these videos!

[@smithpianoservicing3421]

I’m in touch with the only Master Craftsman Beekeeper in Texas, Michelle Boerst, and she said, that a lot of honey sellers will feed the bees a bunch of sugar water, and so a lot of it is technically “honey “ because the bees process it the same way, but fake because it’s not from flowers

[@ZealotOfSteal]

That is, unfortunately, quite common. As far as I know it's also quite difficult to catch, because feeding bees sugar syrup for the winter is a standard practice, so a beekeeper buying bulk sugar is completely normal.

[@ShiningSakura]

I am a beekeeper, I only use sugar water during early spring dearth (lack of flowers) and starting a hive from a package. Then in the winter I give them an emergency sugar supply in the top in case they run out of honey late winter, but that kind is just table sugar on a paper since sugar water is too cold to access that time of the year. It should only be used in times of emergency and to tide them over till more flowers come out. Sugar water made into a syrup consistency and sugar syrup made from high fructose corn syrup are two different things and I was warned NEVER to use high fructose corn syrup because it lacks nutrients and any substance for the bees in their hour of need (and makes your honey taste horrible) If my bees don't have enough for themselves for winter, I get none for myself that fall. By fall, the bees should have utilized all that sugar water for making bee bread (which is their primary food) and what should be left in the fall is honey they got from flowers and will be better for them for winter rationing and excess is harvested for honey for humans.

[@0fficialdregs]

interesting

[@VictoriaRodgersK]

There's a local keeper who sells honey and it shocked me how different it tasted from the supermarket honey (in a good way)! Even though it's about 3-4x more expensive than the supermarket stuff, it's 100000% worth it.

[@lostboy8084]

The taste itself is probably due to it being made from different pollen and because it wasn't fillitered nothing else

[@eryalmario5299]

In the Philippines they sell honey in literal recycled alcohol bottles and some of those bottles have bees outside of it

[@EsotericBibleSecrets]

I get Nates 100% pure raw and unfiltered honey, it's the most expensive you can get at Walmart. I also write LOVE AND GRATITUDE on the back of the container as well as all my water bottles. Water is alive and has been scientifically verified to respond to sound, emotions, etc. Experiments were conducted with putting different labels on jars. Adding Love and Gratitude to your bottles will surprise you with it's benefits. Water bottles with these words added will not start to stink. For Honey, adding these words seems to slow down the rate of Crystalization and improves the taste once it does, but I only just started doing this on honey.

[@KapteinFruit]

I have a question, compared with just straight sugar, how fattening is honey? Im not skinny so I have to ask, Im trying to take better care of myself. Im guessing it's pretty much the same depending on the "dose". Are there any difference between the sugar in honey compared with say that root thing or sugar cane?

[@Nothing-zw3yd]

I get free honey from one of my buddies that has several hives on his farm (he doesn't plow more than one acre, the rest is fallow with lots of wild flowers, he plants lots of other flowers like sunflowers, and the honey is amazing), or from local farms that produce it. I like the stuff that still has the pollen and some wax caps still in it... that all seems to rise to the top and you can scrape it off or just out of the way and get the clearer honey underneath.

[@cosmic_drew]

One of the great benefits of living in a place like Arkansas is I can get almost all the locally grown food I want for cheaper than the supermarket. It seems like everyone is bringing me tomatoes, onions, squash, okra, jalepanos, lettuce and of course honey. It's amazing how honey can taste like the fields around where I live smell.

[@baronratfish3865]

As a Beekeeper. I approve this video. I don't sell my Bees honey. People are too stupid to waste it on them. I eat it myself and gift it to friends and family. And I only take what my Bees can spare.

[@Errcyco]

There was this Russian guy who’d give my family giant jugs of this really dark honey. It was fantastic.. my aunt made all types of stuff with it. Makes the stuff in grocery stores seem like raw sugar

[@baronratfish3865]

@@Errcyco The Dark is my favorite! I get that from their late summer foraging.

[@RovingPunster]

30 years ago, I used to make mead regularly, using varietal honeys sourced from local beekeepers (my faves were usually local wildflower, amish blueberry blossom from PA, and mesquite honey from AZ). Won a few awards in the AHA nationals too (for my muscat grape and basswood honey melomel, and my blueberry and blueberry blossom honey melomel). It always boggles my mind when imbecilic consumers think their honey has somehow gone bad because it crystalized, and they throw it out. Heck, ive even seem some stores sell it at a discount if it begins crystalizing. Morons.

[@RovingPunster]

​​@@baronratfish3865Dark honeys like buckwheat or avocado never ranked high on my faves list. While excellent as table honey, they're often too pungent or monodimensional in flavor for meadmaking.

[@joeyl.rowland4153]

Wow I can't give that much honey away. It is odd but people will buy honey from me but I have a hard time giving it away.

[@JannesJustus]

You gotta like it when the title says "Why Supermarket Honey is FAKE", when the video says the exact opposite thing

[@jarodnewman5535]

I was surprised by your australian accent once you warmed up a bit, one of the better impressions I've heard.

[@casaroli]

I bought honey harvested by some monks here in Spain and it was so unbelievably different from every other honey I ever had. It’s so much better, now I can’t have regular honey.

[@clankb2o5]

My mother used to be a beekeeper and I have childhood memories of absolutely DELICIOUS honey. Unfortunately, she gave up that hobby at some point. For almost two decades, none of the honey that I bought at the stores came close in terms of taste. Store-bought honey has an unpleasant burn to it, too. After so long, I thought my memories must have been wrong, because even more expensive biological honey and honey bought at a university's botanical bee garden did not taste remotely as good as what I remembered. But then, a few months ago... Through circumstance, I found myself in the breakfast lounge of a grand hotel where they had honey straight from the 'combs. The taste blew my mind. I will never buy store-bought honey again, unless it's for cooking/baking, perhaps.

[@ZealotOfSteal]

I'm not defending store bought honey, I've always had honey directly from beekeepers who are family friends and on the rare occasions I've eaten store bought honey I've been squarely disappointed. That said, the taste of honey very much depends on what the bees made the honey from. For example, rapeseed honey is almost white and has a taste I think is closer to sugar than most types of honey. My favorite honey is a bouquet honey from all sorts of plants, it's from my mother's uncle who lives in the mountains. Because it's colder, the bees have a shorter season and produce less honey, so he's sort of forced to make bouquet honey since he can reasonably only take honey once per year. It's dark brown in color and delicious. Acacia honey is quite popular here and while it's tasty, it still falls below my favorite. The point I'm trying to make is that you could hae eaten plenty of real honey and not liked it very much, because different honey has different flavors.

[@MrOhitsujiza]

As a Swede i didnt know you guys had this bad of a honey situation.

[@Devit42]

8:15 - Starts to talk about the topic of the video summary : honey with filler // waterdown honey

[@nikonyrh]

My father has about 70 hives, they keep him very busy through-out the summer :D And in a good physical shape, there is quite a lot of lifting involved when you are moving honey and sugar water (winter food) around. But it consumes so much time that it would be very hard to do it as a profession. I think the yearly yield was about 2000 - 3000 kg. It is very important that there is a variety of plants around (within a few km radius), since they have flowers, pollen and nectar in different months. If there is only one plant species available, most of the summer there wouldn't be any food to gather.

[@Thestargazer56]

My favorite was the "spring" honey when the trees were blooming, very distinct flavor.

[@PandaCatXD]

I live in Australia. Not sure if our supermarket honey has the same issues as the ones in America but I love getting honey from farmers' markets. I like asking for which ones are most likely to crystallise cos I really love the grainy texture of crystallised and/or creamed honey

[@TheDuckofDoom.]

It isn't just direct dilution in the bottle. Feeding the bees a cheap syrup is an indirect way of diluting the honey. The bee picks up syrup and puts it in the comb, farmer extracts it from the comb and it can be called pure honey with a very low proportion of actual flower nectar. This also has a massive boost in production per bee because they travel a shorter distance and the syrup requires less evaporation. (Some syrup feeding is a legitimate practice to help the hive in lean years, but it can be taken to an extreme.)

[@glenbe4026]

There was a big scandal a few years ago about Honey in Australia. If you buy Capilano (or any similar priced "honey") you are pretty much buying corn syrup. The more expensive it is the more likely it is honey.

[@bilguana11]

What about the manuka honey that is sold online? It never crystalizes so they must be scamming us.

[@santyclause8034]

Just go with the country roadside stall dudes, if you can find 'em that stuff is like gold. Store brand honey, I like to know what native flowering tree blossoms the bees fed on (besides commercial crop plants). Australia has the tallest native flowering plants on Earth (Eucalyptus Regnans), bees notice that sort of thing. Dawson's Bee is one of our native bees, and pretty big, we have others. Thing is aussie honey is unique for those kinds of reason that we gots the bushes that bees got their mojo from.

[@danielaggeler9263]

Thank you for this video. A lot of stuff to consider in it. People do what people do. Thank you for the "freezing" thing. That's like an iron-clad guarantee. Also thank you for keeping it simple and to the point, Good video.

[@biffmalibu3733]

I buy my honey from the local bee keeper. His prices are better too. I pay 10 bucks for a 32 oz bottle. He also sells a delicious hot honey for 15 dollars for a 32 oz bottle. Local unpasturized honey is the healthiest best tasting honey. He is proud of his honey and will gladly let you see his filtering and processing setup.His prices are too low, but he does it because he truly loves it as a hobby.

[@LukeLantern]

Does this guy have a name? Might wanna visit him if he's not too far lol

[@biffmalibu3733]

@@LukeLantern Kisner's Honey just West of Washington PA. They have a Facebook page and they might even mail it to ya.

[@ReheatedDonut]

All for supporting local beekeepers (have a friend who is one). BUT PLEASE can people stop staying local honey does anything for hayfever. It's absolutely false.

[@iamjustkiwi]

I feel this way about lots of natural products. They don't need to have magical properties to be worth supporting. And don't even get me started on stoners and the magical properties of their weed when like, can't we just enjoy it cause it's fun and not pretend most of us are using it as medicine? It just makes everyone else look at these groups of people as nuts

[@iamjustkiwi]

@@squirrelcovers6340 it's "medicine" if you don't go by any meaningful definition - it doesn't treat or cure any disease other than CBD working for some very specific forms of seizure disorder (and isn't marijuana flower but a specific extract) and at best helps to relieve some nausea or pain in a less effective manner than existing drugs while also raising heart rate and causing anxiety in some people, and smoking anything is bad for the lungs period. My partner receives a prescription for medical cannabis and has done for nearly two years, so don't you dare tell me to educate myself you presumptuous twat.

[@MrDDiRusso]

A lot of MAPLE SYRUP is also fraudulent.

[@laurendoe168]

The problem, for me, with sourcing honey locally is that I live in Central Florida. It seems every beekeeper here is obsessed with selling "orange blossom honey." I don't know if you're tried this, but it tastes absolutely disgusting to me.

[@Roland14d]

Try "Palmetto Honey" sometime. Very Dark. Very...something not easily put into words. - Although, now that I think about it, I might try to make Mead from some. Gaa-ruun-teeed to put hair on your chest and horns on your hat!

[@laurendoe168]

@@Roland14d If I ever see it, I'll try it!

[@Roland14d]

@@laurendoe168 I used to see it (1980s) around the Hilton Head, SC outskirts. But now you've reawakened my curiosity... ...Web search shows lighter Saw Palmetto and darker Cabbage Palmetto Honey for sale online. The Cabbage variety looks like what we used to have but I think I'll order both just to be sure.

[@sergioortega7640]

As a plus when you buy local Honey you get the benefits of the anti allergens for local flora. Here in the mountains of Georgia our grandkids kept sufferings from bad allergies then the kids doctor told their Mama to go purchase local fresh honey. This has helped quite a bit.

[@cosmindvd]

I buy local honey from my village, I live in the country with 2nd most beehives in Europe and local natural honey is very easy to get, and it is amazing.

[@cosmindvd]

@@SG-df9er Romania.

[@CraigTheBrute-yf7no]

@@cosmindvd#freetopg

[@cosmindvd]

@@CraigTheBrute-yf7no #sendhimbacktojail

[@sunla]

My garden is so random, I plant whatever everywhere. There's no shortage of bees coming to my yard... I don't have any hives in my yard, but if I did, I can't imagine I would do anything to them. The ones that come around are so sweet and kind. They see me gardening, and there have been times where my obliviousness has nearly hurt them, but they've never attacked me for it. They always do a thorough job pollinating my flowers 💖

[@randomocitycats]

same! I love to see them in bee heaven in my squash blossoms. They are so diligent and incredible

[@EsotericBibleSecrets]

I agree with making our ecosystems more diverse for the bees, but do be careful about planting random things haphazardly. There are some plants out there that are not so good, and planting different combinations of things together could create some unexpected results. Don't plant anything dangerous.

[@StevenWernerCS]

I would like an explanation of how filtering increases production. At the basic definition, it would decrease yield and take more effort

[@eladlutz]

I NEVER buy grocery store honey, I buy local honey, yes, at my farm and ranch store, a mom and pop.

[@JARV9701]

If you've never seen real honey, it still has the same colour, but, it is more "chunky" and makes sort of small "clots", it's sort of weird, but has a more soft taste than the average market. It is actually better to make candy. To find it, in my city, we have farmers that sell this on the roads, they park their trucks on the side of the road and have locally grown fruits, vegetables, honey, that sort of stuff, it is more expensive, but it is worth it. And if you can, buy it with the honeycomb, you can chew it :b Just don't swallow :V

[@wendygeaux]

I work for an upscale catering facility, and we produce a few "farm to table" items on the property. Honey is one of these. We don't sell it, but are allowed to take a jar or two home for ourselves. Omg. The spring honey is beyond amazing - it feels like velvet in your mouth, and tastes like heaven. I've become pretty spoiled, and commercial "honey" is 100% unacceptable to me now - might as well just drink syrup.

[@densai89]

My wife wanted to throw away the honey because on the bottom of the jar the expiration date was approaching. I told her honey doesn't expire and we'll be fine eating it. I told her ancient Egyptian honey was still edible after 3,000 years. If we get sick from eating the "expired" honey, then maybe it's something else they put in the honey that's not supposed to be in there.

[@SenseiJae]

It’s actually the jar they store it in. Plastic jars leech hazardous chemicals over time, and the use by date is a rough estimate of when that leaching would start becoming noticeably harmful.

[@vectorwolf]

Most decent honey comes in glass, though. Mostly the best-by date is a formality for honey. I think the only jar I've had to pitch had been discovered by ants. I suppose it wouldn't have killed me, but I wasn't going dig through an inch of ant tar-pit...

[@SeekingTheLoveThatGodMeans7648]

@@vectorwolf How did the ants even get in, though?

[@SeekingTheLoveThatGodMeans7648]

@@SenseiJae It might also be(e) due to anticipated crystallization. If it happens in a plastic container, it's more awkward to reheat than if in glass.

[@vectorwolf]

@@SeekingTheLoveThatGodMeans7648 They were very small 'sugar ants' and were able to squeeze under the edge of the lid.

[@shanenoel1270]

I don't buy honey from the supermarket. I purchase it from local bee farmers. It tastes wonderful and it's amazing how it tastes different depending on the type of flower (source) the bees get the nectar and pollen.

[@cseymour97]

My Neighbor is a beekeeper and gives me a. Bottle of honey every spring because it helps my allergies. Absolutely mind blowing how different it is from the store bought stuff!

[@keithcontrades1191]

The reason why I only buy locally from a bee farmer here on Kaua'i who I know well. She and her husband are a gift to our island selling their precious raw honey at our farmers markets. I make a whole wheat sprouted toast with high quality peanut or almond butter covered in the honey and sprinkled with sunflower seeds and then chilled to stiffen it up some for a pre workout energy bar! The energy kick and longevity it gives throughout a workout is unlike any other!

[@toddwelsh8353]

Hobbyist beekeeper here. Look into getting a hive or two. Take come classes from your local extension service or beekeeping club (Yes, that is a thing) Watch some videos from a beekeeper in your part of the country. It is a ridiculously rewarding hobby.

[@edbrown6985]

My parents were truckers and delivered honey to Lancaster pa.they advertised it as pure pennsylvania dutch honey but when the barrels came of the trailer when delivered to the packaging plant honey imported from Vietnam was stenciled on the barrelsMost honey is mixed together to get the best taste .

[@bigbadjohn7053]

I hadn't eaten anything but supermarket honey for years. My son got allergies and doctor recommended raw, locally sourced honey to help. I was shocked how much more flavor the local honey had over the store bought. It was richer and had a much more complex flavoring over what we had always gotten. I only buy locally sourced honey now.

[@JustAnotherBuckyLover]

I'm glad that your son didn't react badly to the honey. Your doctor was wrong - research has demonstrated that honey doesn't do anything to help allergies, and in fact, can trigger allergic responses up to, and including, anaphylaxis if you're allergic to the pollen in the raw honey. If you enjoy it because of the flavour, that's fine. But as someone with allergies myself, I choose to go with the filtered option as it's far less likely to make me sick (especially as I already deal with anaphylactic reactions to other substances).

[@rburn6677]

@@JustAnotherBuckyLover I am curious, what medical school did you graduate from and what state are you licensed in as a Doctor? I am asking since you are so free with medical advice and to accuse a Dr of being wrong (or even malpractice).

[@JustAnotherBuckyLover]

@@rburn6677 LMAO do you think that doctors are magically prevented from being wrong and behind, or can't believe in woo? Because if so, I'd like to introduce you to Dr Oz. There are SO many doctors who fail to keep up with the latest research and in fact, it's almost impossible for a single doctor to keep up to date on every aspect of medicine. That's why they specialise. And actually, I *do* have a qualification in the medical field, and I am familiar with the process of actual scientific research, but you wouldn't believe me if I told you so I won't waste my time. But thanks for playing. Try looking at any of the major medical authorities (the AAFA is on the first page of Google), who will say the same thing. And I'm sure if you really want to, you could stop acting like a butthole, and you could research it properly in medical literature, not woo sites and honey sellers.

[@eigerw]

Definitely make a video on the corn industry in the US. I think most people don't have the slightest grasp on how substantial corn specifically is to the economy, and how damaging to the environment (with the damage to the ecosystem via land usage, soil degradation, and pollution from eutrophication to name a few) and future alternative fuel development efforts it is. It's our main agricultural product, and yet the vast majority of it (somewhere over 90 percent of the harvest) isn't even used for human consumption, instead it's largely used for animal feed (an industry which is almost entirely unsustainable) and ethanol production (which is around twenty four percent more carbon-intensive than gasoline). The entire industry is driven by government subsidies. I live in the midwest, and a massive portion of the EnvSci course I took a year or so ago was dedicated to corn farming, so it's still pretty fresh in my mind haha.

[@FjodorvS]

I think you are making a really good point, especially when at around the four-minute mark Levi talks about the monocultures, I don't think apples and grapes are the problem, it's the massive land usage of corn, soy, etc., which is pretty much all destined for use in the agricultural industry. However, I do think you slightly misrepresent the issue of using corn for the production of biofuel. First of all, regardless of the increased CO2 intensiveness relative to gasoline, it would still be preferred as a fuel, as it is a renewable fuel rather than a fossil fuel (i.e. the extra CO2 was pulled out of the atmosphere first). Secondly, Much of the biofuel research is focused on making 2nd gen biofuels commercially viable. 2nd gen fuels use the inedible parts of crops rather than the crops themselves for fuel production. I hope this can clear some things up, it's a topic I have been studying quite intensely for the last couple of years, so I hope you don't mind me clarifying some of those points.

[@cknorris3644]

There are a few vids on YT that shows how it takes more pollution to make ethanol than it saves. Also touches on the subsidies and incentives part and how some of these "programs" were just forced on us to get rid of excess corn..

[@user-xn4dq6wo7p]

so old news

[@adamrogowski2748]

Replace the corn fields with grazing plots and have more pastured beef.

[@FjodorvS]

@@adamrogowski2748 I think you're vastly overestimating how many cows could be sustained on that amount of land

[@fieldsofgold2760]

The ability of youtubers to change a simple 1min question into a 15min lecture is always stunning. JUST TELLL ME WHAT THE GD HONEY ISSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@saw6436]

One of my friends father is a beekeeper. He gave my wife and I a gallon jar of his honey as a wedding present. 23 years later we are just about to the end of the jar. Honey is amazing stuff.

[@mikepatton7577]

Make a video about corn, and look into the people involved in corn production in the US.

[@ChristopherFynn001]

US corn is mostly genetically modified and sprayed with nasty (probably bee killing) chemicals.

[@nerd26373]

Supermarket honey might contain additives and other ingredients that may not be good for the body. As we all know, real honey is extracted from bee hives naturally and do not need to contain any more than that. We appreciate your content. We look forward to see more.

[@FutureProofTV]

Thanks for joining us here!! 🙏✨

[@dykam]

Raw honey too though might contain stuff which may not be good for the body. Just because something is an additive doesn't make it bad. Of course, in most cases it's often better to go for less processed and less additives, but it's not that black and white.

[@jhoughjr1]

But obviously. One of you know how to read the ingredient list and not just see a bear and go ooo honey.

[@EricDMMiller]

Like lead and Chinese bullshit.

[@Nachiebree]

I went to a local beekeeper a while ago because I wanted honey for mead and I didn't really trust the grocery store stuff. I wanted local honey and it tastes so much better as mead vs. a batch made with grocery store honey. The grocery store honey mead has a lot less flavor to it

[@recycledMilk]

my favorite part of living in rural germany is that we can buy honey from local beekeepers directly! many of them work hand in hand with farmers who also are obligated to offer a certain percentage of their land to native wild flowers every year! which is also not only beneficial for these beekeepers but provide a place for all sorts of critters and native bee species! the system is not perfect but an amazing step into the right direction! the honey i bought from a local bee keeper was 9€ a jar (a regular jar of commercial honey costs somewhere between 2-4 euro at a regular store) i cant afford that all the time but it was absolutely worth it bc A: it does not only taste much better, its also B: actively supporting local beekeepers and the animals living around us! i cant wait to buy a jar from this years batch!

[@Larsoff]

One important thing is that bees arent able to be domesticated due to their complicated psychology. We basically just keep the bees happy to do their things but its never brute forcing them to do what we want. This is why it's difficult to have large scale apiculture productions.

[@rosem7042]

I have given up on calling myself a beekeeper at this point. I'm more of a bee landlord, keeping them happy and housed in exchange for a small portion of their income.

[@user-xn4dq6wo7p]

@@rosem7042 yeahh thats what we call a beekepper haha

[@mushyroom9569]

More like they can’t be domesticated because they’re dumb bugs. Domestication requires at least bird-level intelligence.

[@rosem7042]

@mushyroom9569 idk man, bees can be trained on an individual level and their communication is pretty advanced for just being dumb bugs.

[@user-xn4dq6wo7p]

@@rosem7042Maybe they understand more than we think. I have wasps nests all over my plot and everyone is scared but ive been stung twice when first disturbing a new nest in about 5 years. i give them water all summer and they just hover about without being a threat at all

[@peepa47]

You have to buy from a beekeeper. Almost everybody does that in my country. The one I like is made into a white paste, its made by leting it crystalise quickly to small crystals. And then it will never change its form.

[@snaplash]

I buy local honey from a small beekeeper (2-3 hives), but I'm concerned because the hives all have bog sugar water feeders on them, even in summer, and I've never seen any flowers in the surrounding suburban area except for the trees in spring.

[@nate9198]

This is unfortunately a similar story in the UK, most supermarket honey is 'blended EU and non-EU honey's' and is essentially a highly processed product, ultimately this is down to companies capitalising on making mass produced cheap honey and making a profit and having no regard for the integrity of the product. To avoid this, people have to consider the true worth of good quality honey produced from a small number of apiaries within the same region, where natural husbandry takes place and where the honey is not ultra-filtered and heat treated (which removes all the good properties of honey essentially turning it into nothing more than liquid sugar). How can consumer's avoid this? Probably pay twice the price or more for good quality honey, people always want a bargain or cheap price for certain commodities but I would suggest people rethink their priorities. I know some people that drive a 4*4 and own the latest i-phone, but they won't spend over £3 or £4 on a pot of honey (4 to 5 USD equivalent). If you were serious about caring about food and where it comes from, maybe spending c.20% of your income on food, rather than a flashy car, should be your priority. You will also help the livelihood of bee keepers out in the process and protect biodiversity.

[@jhoughjr1]

Blended honey is still honey.

[@nate9198]

@@jhoughjr1 well it is except if it's pasteurised (applying high heat) then it removes the good properties (natural yeast, enzymes) you get and it's just to make it smoother and extend its shelf life. A good deal of the blended honeys are all heat treated and filtered to stabilise them for sitting on a shelf in the supermarket. Honey which is untreated and raw actually crystallises and so needs to be gently heated at home before you can use it for drizzling etc. Also some honey these days can literally taste like syrup, honey should have a distinct flavour and normally reflects the trees/flowers/plants it's eaten the nectar from.

[@oldbatwit5102]

I don't know anybody with a 4x4 and the latest iPhone.

[@gianni_schicchi]

@@oldbatwit5102 do you know like two people?