FAQ

How do I substitute honey for sugar?

When substituting honey for granulated sugar in recipes, begin by substituting honey for up to half of the sugar called for in the recipe. For baked goods, make sure to reduce the oven temperature by 25°F to prevent overbrowning; reduce any liquid called for by 1/4 cup for each cup of honey used and add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda for each cup of honey used. Because of its high fructose content, honey has higher sweetening power than sugar. This means you can use less honey than sugar to achieve the desired sweetness.

What is the role of pollen in honey?

Honey is made by honeybees from the nectar of flowers and plants, not pollen. Pollen is actually an accidental guest in honey, brought back by bees as a source of food for baby bees (the “brood”), or incidentally introduced into the honey through other means, such as during the extraction process. Pollen in honey is sometimes analyzed to help determine the primary floral source. The amount of pollen in honey is minuscule and not enough to impact the nutrient value of honey. Honey is still honey, even without pollen.

Does honey have an expiration date?

Honey stored in sealed containers can remain stable for decades and even centuries! However, honey is susceptible to physical and chemical changes during storage; it tends to darken and lose its aroma and flavor or crystallize. These are temperature-dependent processes, making the shelf life of honey difficult to define. For practical purposes, a shelf life of two years is often stated. Properly processed, packaged and stored honey retains its quality for a long time. If in doubt, throw it out, and purchase a new jar of honey!

Is raw honey more nutritious than processed or filtered honey?

While there is no official U.S. federal definition of “raw” honey, it generally means honey that has not been heated or filtered. We often see or hear claims that raw honey is more nutritious or better for you, primarily because raw honey may contain small amounts of pollen grains that are often removed during processing or filtering.

 Honey is produced by honeybees from the nectar of plants, not pollen. Pollen occurs only incidentally in honey. The amount of pollen in honey is miniscule and not enough to impact the nutrient value of honey. A 2004 study by the Australian government found the percentage of dry weight canola pollen in 32 Australian canola honey samples ranged from 0.15% to 0.433%. 

 A 2012 study by the National Honey Board analyzed vitamins, minerals and antioxidant levels in raw and processed honey. The study showed that processing significantly reduced the pollen content of the honey, but did not affect the nutrient content or antioxidant activity, leading the researchers to conclude that the micronutrient profile of honey is not associated with its pollen content and is not affected by commercial processing. The 2012 study and abstract with statistical analysis was presented at the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) Conference in Boston April 20–24, 2013.

What is raw honey?

While there is no official U.S. federal definition of raw honey, the National Honey Board defines raw honey as “honey as it exists in the beehive or as obtained by extraction, settling or straining without adding heat.” This definition does not have any legal authority, but is provided to help in the understanding of honey and honey terms. 

Why is most honey filtered?

According to USDA Grading Standards for extracted honey, filtered honey is honey that has been filtered to the extent that all or most of the fine particles, pollen grains, air bubbles and other materials normally found in suspension have been removed.

Honey that is filtered by packers is filtered for various reasons:

• Many consumers prefer honey that is liquid and stays liquid for a long time.
• All honey crystallizes eventually. Suspended particles and fine air bubbles in honey contribute to faster crystallization. Filtering helps delay crystallization, helping the honey to remain liquid for a much longer period than unfiltered honey.
• Many consumers prefer honey to be clear and brilliantly transparent.
• The presence of fine, suspended material (pollen grains, wax, etc.) and air bubbles result in a cloudy appearance that can detract from the appearance. Filtering is done to give a clear, brilliant product desired by consumers. For the filtered style of honey, USDA Grading Standards for Extracted Honey give higher grades for honey that has good clarity.
• Honey is filtered to remove extraneous solids that remain after the initial raw processing by the beekeeper.
• Various filtration methods are used by the food industry throughout the world. Ultrafiltration, a specific kind of filtration used in the food industry, should not be confused with other filtration methods generally used in the honey industry. When applied to honey, ultrafiltration involves adding water to honey and filtering it under high pressure at the molecular level, then removing the water. It is a much more involved and expensive process, which results in a colorless sweetener product that is derived from honey, but is not considered honey in the U.S.
• Honey that is filtered through more traditional methods is still honey, even if pollen has been removed along with other fine particles.

How do bees pollinate plants?

As bees travel from blossom to blossom in search of nectar, they brush against the pollen-bearing parts of a flower (anther or stamen) and pick up pollen. When the honeybee goes to another flower for more food, some of the pollen from the first flower sticks to the second flower. In this way, the flowers are pollinated. Almonds, apples, avocados, blueberries, cantaloupes, cherries, cranberries, cucumbers, sunflowers, watermelon and many other crops all benefit from honeybees for pollination.

How do bees make honey?

Honey is the sweet fluid produced by honeybees from the nectar of flowers. Worker honeybees transform the floral nectar that they gather into honey by adding enzymes to the nectar and reducing the moisture.

Why does my honey look or taste different from what I'm used to?

Honey comes in many colors and flavors. These are called honey varietals and they are determined by the types of flowers the bees visited for nectar. Some are light and sweet; others are dark and bold. Pick the honey you like and enjoy!

My honey has become solid (crystallized). Is it still good?

Crystallization is the natural process by which the glucose in honey precipitates out of the liquid honey. Different varieties of honey will crystallize at different rates, and a few not at all. If your honey crystallizes, simply place the honey jar in warm water and stir until the crystals dissolve; or place the honey container, with the cap open, into near boiling water that has been removed from the heat; or place the honey in a microwave-safe container with the lid off and microwave, stirring every 30 seconds, until the crystals dissolve. Be careful not to boil or scorch the honey. Also keep in mind that you can eat the honey in a crystallized form. Just scoop out of the jar and spread it on your toast or drop it in your tea!

How much does honey weigh?

Eight fluid ounces (or 1 cup) of honey weighs 12 ounces. Be careful in buying and measuring quantities of honey. Honey is typically sold by weight rather than volume. It is heavier than water; the standard for "fluid ounces," which is why 1 cup of water is considered 8 fluid ounces, but 1 cup of honey will actually weigh 12 ounces. A gallon of honey weighs approximately 12 pounds.

What is honey’s nutritional information?

Please follow the link below for technical specification about the nutritional components of honey.

Nutrition Research & Information

Why can't I feed honey to my baby younger than one year of age?

Honey may contain Clostridium botulinum spores that can cause infant botulism, a rare but serious disease that affects the nervous system of young babies (under one year old). C. botulinum spores are present throughout the environment and may be found in dust, soil and improperly canned foods. Adults and children over one year of age are routinely exposed to, but not normally affected by, C. botulinum spores. Honey is safe to consume during pregnancy and lactation. While infants are susceptible to the infant botulism, adults, including pregnant females, are not. The concern for babies stems from the fact that infants lack the fully developed gastrointestinal tract of older humans. Since the mother is not in danger of developing this condition, the unborn baby is protected. Spores are inactivated when manufactured food products (such as cereals or nuts) receive a roasting heat treatment. Graham crackers or cereal, for example, would not contain any viable microbial spores.

Will eating local honey help with my allergies?

There are anecdotal stories of people claiming relief from allergies by eating local honey, but we are not aware of any scientific evidence to support these claims. This subject is somewhat controversial, since some experts claim that the kinds of pollens that are the greatest cause of allergies are smaller windblown pollens that are not typically found in honey. This topic is also covered on the website of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology here: www.aaaai.org/ask-the-expert/The-ingestion-of-honey-for-allergy-treatment.aspx. Other sources of information about pollen allergy include the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

What is the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and how do I know what I need to do as an Importer or Packer?

Click the link below for Frequently Asked Questions about the FSMA:

https://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/FSMA/ucm247559.htm

For more information about compliance questions regarding the FSMA, click below link:

https://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/FSMA/ 

What are the currently labeling requirements for honey?

Link below to FDA Guidance:

https://www.fda.gov/food/guidanceregulation/guidancedocumentsregulatoryinformation/labelingnutrition/ucm389501.htm#intro

What is honey?

According to the FDA:

Reference materials in the public domain define honey as “a thick, sweet, syrupy substance that bees make as food from the nectar of flowers and store in honeycombs.” 2,3 FDA has concluded that this definition accurately reflects the common usage of the term “honey.”