Author Topic: Customer questions regarding heat treating  (Read 1693 times)

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omnimirage

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Customer questions regarding heat treating
« on: January 16, 2018, 10:00:14 pm »
A number of people ask me whether I heat treat my honey. I always tell them truthfully, partly because I'm honest and partly because I'm proud of my product, and that I'm careful to not reduce it's quality by heating. I tell them that, I heat it to 35c, which is significantly cooler than what a beehive will experience in the summer, in order to be runny enough to pour, and that pasturised honey is heated more to 60c something which is what's associated with the lose of flavour and nutrition. Nonetheless, it seems whenever I say this, the customer becomes disinterested and I don't get a sale.

I'm a bit unsure what to do about it. How common is it for beekeepers to not heat treat honey? Seems largely impractical for me. They'd have to collect honey from the hive that is completely liquid, process, package and sell it quickly. Would they not be able to store honey then? Because honey that's stored will crystallise and need to be heated.

I believe customers ask this because they have learned heat treating reduces quality, but they havne't looked into it indepth enough to really understand. I'm starting to wonder if I should just tell them that I don't heat treat it, but not sure if that'd be misleading.

I get the same sort of questions about sugar feeding. People seem to think sugar feeding spells dooms for beehives and reduces quality of honey. I'm not sure how true that is, but sugar feeding is not something I do now anyway.

Offline CBT

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Re: Customer questions regarding heat treating
« Reply #1 on: January 16, 2018, 11:00:35 pm »
It’s not complicated. You do not pasturise your honey. When you heat it you are well below any level that would take away the good pollen and things in it. I don’t filter honey but I do strain the wax out of it.

ps: fill in your age profile. Just sayin C:-)

Offline apisbees

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Re: Customer questions regarding heat treating
« Reply #2 on: January 17, 2018, 04:39:17 am »
As CBT said, tell them. I do not pasteurize my honey. and if they push for more information, let them know you store and process the honey at temperatures below summer inside hive temperatures.
Honey Judge, Beekeeping Display Coordinator, Armstrong Fair and Rodeo.

Online Bakersdozen

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Re: Customer questions regarding heat treating
« Reply #3 on: January 17, 2018, 06:07:54 am »
Possibly it's a matter of TMI (too much information).  Simple yes or no answers might be best.  They are not really looking to be educated, but they know enough to know that imported honey has been heated and is not as healthy as the sideliner beekeeper has to offer.  Your label, if there is room, might be a good place to use words like pure, natural, raw, or what best answer potential questions.

omnimirage

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Re: Customer questions regarding heat treating
« Reply #4 on: January 17, 2018, 07:26:38 am »
Good to know. It seems that "heat treated" is an industry term that essentially means to pasturise, which is not what I'm doing.

Offline Perry

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Re: Customer questions regarding heat treating
« Reply #5 on: January 17, 2018, 12:25:12 pm »
A number of people ask me whether I heat treat my honey. I always tell them truthfully, partly because I'm honest and partly because I'm proud of my product, and that I'm careful to not reduce it's quality by heating. I tell them that, I heat it to 35c, which is significantly cooler than what a beehive will experience in the summer, in order to be runny enough to pour, and that pasturised honey is heated more to 60c something which is what's associated with the lose of flavour and nutrition. Nonetheless, it seems whenever I say this, the customer becomes disinterested and I don't get a sale.

I'm a bit unsure what to do about it. How common is it for beekeepers to not heat treat honey? Seems largely impractical for me. They'd have to collect honey from the hive that is completely liquid, process, package and sell it quickly. Would they not be able to store honey then? Because honey that's stored will crystallise and need to be heated.

I believe customers ask this because they have learned heat treating reduces quality, but they havne't looked into it indepth enough to really understand. I'm starting to wonder if I should just tell them that I don't heat treat it, but not sure if that'd be misleading.

I get the same sort of questions about sugar feeding. People seem to think sugar feeding spells dooms for beehives and reduces quality of honey. I'm not sure how true that is, but sugar feeding is not something I do now anyway.

Heating and "heat treating" are 2 different things. I warm honey to aid in its extraction and movement and filtering (ever try to strain cool or cold honey?). If the question is "are you heat treating" the answer would be no. "Do you heat your honey" I would answer with "no more than what would be found in the hive itself".

As to the "do you feed your bees sugar" question, I usually answer "only in the fall and only if I feel they would starve to death otherwise". How can they argue with that? To do otherwise would be neglect!
"It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor."      
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omnimirage

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Re: Customer questions regarding heat treating
« Reply #6 on: January 17, 2018, 04:46:43 pm »
Good to know the difference. Some people seem to believe that beekeepers deliberately take an excessive amount of honey from the hives, and then feed them sugar water for the bees to replace with it. I'm not sure how common, or responsible this is and I'm guessing that's what people are thinking when they think of bees being sugar fed.

Offline apisbees

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Re: Customer questions regarding heat treating
« Reply #7 on: January 18, 2018, 08:13:11 am »
It also depends of the honey crop. Some honeys the bees do not over winter very well on. Canola is one of these so it is heavily pulled and replaced with sugar syrup that is much easier for the bees to use. Also some honey will cause the bees to have to take more cleansing flights and if the bees are kept in an area that has few winter flight days This can cause stress in the bees and contribute to winter loses.
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omnimirage

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Re: Customer questions regarding heat treating
« Reply #8 on: January 18, 2018, 07:07:01 pm »
Interesting to know. All my honey is eucalyptus based; do you know how that's fed on over winter?

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Re: Customer questions regarding heat treating
« Reply #9 on: January 18, 2018, 08:32:09 pm »
Omni you barely get winter so I would not worry to much about it. It is in areas of extreme cold where the bees are confined in their hives for months with out flight.
Honey Judge, Beekeeping Display Coordinator, Armstrong Fair and Rodeo.

omnimirage

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Re: Customer questions regarding heat treating
« Reply #10 on: January 19, 2018, 11:15:39 pm »
Are there any times then, other than during moments of potential starvation and with swarms/splits, should I be wanting to feed them sugar? If I go to add a new super ontop with empty foundation, could it be worthwhile to provide some sugar diluted with water so that they can use it to build new comb?

Offline tedh

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Re: Customer questions regarding heat treating
« Reply #11 on: January 20, 2018, 07:52:33 am »
Hi Omni, the potential problem with that would be that the bees may start storing sugar water in your honey super.  If you are trying to get a new colony to build up or trying to add weight to a hive for winter feeding sugar water is beneficial.  Ted
Share that which you have an abundance of.  In doing so both the giver and receiver are enriched.