At CharlieBee, we’re in the thick of honey season — and as jars start filling up, it’s a good time to talk about something that confuses a lot of folks: what exactly is real honey?
You’ll see all kinds of stuff on grocery store shelves — fancy labels, claims like “organic,” and prices that range from suspiciously cheap to shockingly high. So here’s the straight talk:
Real honey is raw, unfiltered, and straight from the hive. That means it hasn’t been pasteurized (heated to high temps) or micro-filtered. It’s strained just enough to remove wax and bee parts, but it still contains the pollen, enzymes, and other natural goodies the bees put in it. It will crystallize. That’s not a flaw — it’s proof that it’s the real deal.
The stuff that doesn’t crystallize? It’s often been heated and filtered to the point that it’s lost most of its flavor and benefits. And a lot of what’s on the shelf isn’t even from the U.S. — it’s imported from places like China, India, Brazil, or Argentina. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, some imported honey has been mis-labeled, adulterated with sugar syrups, or overly processed until it’s basically sweet goo.
And “organic honey”? The USDA doesn’t certify honey as organic in the U.S. So if you see “certified organic honey,” the label was likely issued in another country — and you’re putting your faith in someone else’s standards. Trust it if you want. Or maybe don’t.
We like to say: you get what you pay for with honey. If it’s dirt cheap, there’s a reason. If it came from the hands of a dirty-fingernailed beekeeper who can tell you what season it was pulled and what flowers were blooming? That’s the good stuff.
Around here, we just call it liquid sunshine.
And while honey does have some medicinal uses (wound healing, digestion), don’t fall for the hype that it’ll cure everything from allergies to baldness. At CharlieBee, we’re sugar vendors — not snake oil salesmen. And that’s why our honey guarantee says it’ll make you taller, help you think good, attract your soulmate, reverse baldness, and make you funnier. (Results may vary.)
So if you're after the real deal, buy raw, local honey — and know your beekeeper.
Stay sweet,
Charlie