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?

Subscribe to Future Proof!

Join our Patreon:

Stay updated on our socials

For further reading, check out the sources for this video here:

Script: Holly Maley
Editor: Reid Valaitis
Lead Editor: Kirsten Stanley
Project Manager: Lurana McClure Rodríguez
Host: Levi Hildebrand

[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.

[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!

[kaduku]

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.

[factandsuspicionpodcast]

This is the second worst honey scam I discovered today.

[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.

[ogo]

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!

[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

[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.

[tjs]

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.

[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😂

[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.

[ropro]

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

[steffimaier]

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.

[keinlieb]

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.

[jolo]

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

[PotatoSoup]

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.

[beniaminmarin]

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.

[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.

[ghw]

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

[timg]

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.