So how do you define RAW HONEY?

[BedHead]

I am trying to get a feel for what kinds of questions to be asking producers as I try to find a local supplier. Does it need to be the comb with the honey still in it? Unfiltered? What kinds of processing if any are 'allowed'? What is the max temp it can be heated to? Why would it need to be heated at all? What is the temp of the inside of the hive?

[Magelet]

You can definitely get raw honey without the comb, I don't know exactly your questions. I usually assume if they say raw unheated honey, it's raw.

[serenbat]

You want to make sure it really is LOCAL- there is a place in my area that sells "local" and it has honey mixed in from over several hours away-it's OK if you are OK with it- I'm not, to me that is NOT local

You may also want to know if they FEED their bees-last fall in my area, we got cold and warmed up and the bees came back out, and some feed their bees sugar water, thus making it not true pure raw honey-again, some are OK with that, some are not

Also you may want to see if the bees travel- I am in PA and NJ trucks in lots of bees because they don't have what they need, I want TRUE local honey for allergic reasons and I don't want bees that are feed on items that are not native to me

[Zenzero]

I am very interested in this too. I looked into it last year and couldn't find anywhere local that didn't heat the honey at all and most people said they didn't think anyone did it without any heat, although I did find one source that said they used very low heat, but some was necessary to get the honey out or something. No idea really if this is true so would be interested to hear other responses.

[JamieCatheryn]

My local guy says he makes sure not to bring the honey above 105F as that's how warm it will naturally get in the hive. Of course, I go and heat up the majority of it to 145 to start the mead, or I bake the granola... what goes in the yogurt is still raw though.

[Magelet]

Apparently, you can make mead without heating the honey, according to DP. there's a slightly greater risk of there being bad for taste buggies in it, but I figure since honey is anti-fungal and anti-bacterial, the only thing it could have would be bad yeast, and it's worth the chance to make raw honey. We're going to try making a raw honey mead soon (It might have to be warmed, but honey mixes in pretty well at about 100 degrees.). (going to taste one source of honey today) Just if you were interested in exploring that pathway.