Tennessee Local (Hickman County) Raw Honey from Organically-Managed Bees

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Bulk Natural Foods

A Natural Food Coop in Middle Tennessee

Current Co-op Orders
Bulk Food Store
Do you know where your honey comes from? You should!

Commercial beekeeping, like any commercial livestock operation, is set up to get maximum production at the lowest cost, without care for the quality of the end product. Commercial bees are regularly dosed with antibiotics and pesticides to keep them producing, and they may be exposed to additional pesticides while they forage for pollen throughout the surrounding areas.

But it doesn’t have to be like this.

The beekeeper we buy from does not use pesticides or antibiotics on
his bees or in his hives.  Instead, he uses a more natural bee; one that has not been repeatedly bred by the commercial industry. This bee is smaller and it is a lot more resistant to mites, so it doesn't need to be treated with antibiotics and pesticides. Simple, I know, but it works. 

Another thing to consider is how the honey itself has been handled.

The vast majority of honey you can buy at the grocery store has been pasteurized and filtered and may even contain additives and sugar syrup. The pasteurization process destroys valuable enzymes and heat-sensitive vitamins, and it also negatively affects the flavor of the honey. The filtering process removes even more good stuff, including the pollen that is known to help allergy sufferers and the propolis that helps our bodies fight infection of many kinds. If you’re buying honey because of its healthfulness, it’s really important to make certain you’re actually getting the valuable nutrients that natural honey contains, not a look-alike.

So how is our honey different?

When our honey is harvested, it is simply strained through a sieve to remove the occasional bee’s leg or wing. It’s never heated. Never filtered.

Helping allergies with raw, local honey

Eating raw, local honey can help build your immune system to better tolerate common allergens, such as pollen, eliminating or reducing the need for allergy medication. To reduce allergy symptoms, take one or two teaspoons of local raw honey every day throughout the year. Don’t stop taking the honey when you start feeling better, though. Daily, continuous intake of honey may eventually eliminate allergies altogether over a period of time.

Does store bought honey help allergies?

No, the honey must be entirely raw and unfiltered so the bits of pollen and propolis it naturally contains are still present.  It also needs to be local enough that it contains the same pollens that you are exposed to on a daily basis. If you can't find raw, unfiltered honey from your own neighborhood, honey from within a 100 mile radius should work just as well.

Is it okay to feed honey to babies?

Honey can cause infant botulism, so it’s best not to feed honey to children under 12 months old.

What is the shelf life of honey?
Smoking the Bees*
Frames in the Hive
Frame Full of Bees
Beginning to Harvest
Busy Bees!
Honey will keep for literally hundreds of years without refrigeration, so it’s fine to keep it in your pantry for any length of time. Since our honey is unheated, however, it will eventually begin to crystallize and become difficult to pour. There’s nothing wrong with it at this point; I personally like the grainy texture of crystallized honey, but if you prefer, you can return it to its liquid state by gently warming it in a jar placed into a hot water bath. Just be careful that you don’t heat the honey above 115 degrees and destroy its natural enzymes.

How to bake with honey

In baking, substitute 3/4 cup honey for 1 cup sugar, reduce liquids by 25%, and reduce baking temperature 25 degrees F.


*Smoking the bees with woodsmoke makes the bees think their hive is burning, so they fill their abdomens with honey in order to save as much as they can. With full abdomens, the bees become more docile and less likely to sting the beekeeper.
Customer Reviews

I didn't buy peaches this time, but I love the honey! It is great! We are starting to make our own bread and the honey is great for that. :) Thanks. -Angela Danielson

The raw honey I purchased was AMAZING!!!  It's the yummiest raw honey I've ever tasted.  I'm using it in everything  The peaches were really good too.  They are just now ripe enough to bit into.  And I'll be honest and say that, given what I read in the June reviews, I had more "bad" ones (meaning ones with large bad spots or rotting spots) than I expected.  I purchased the "b" peaches thinking they would have some blemishes bruises, but these had more than I was expecting.  BUT, for the price, I think it's totally fair and the taste is delicious.  They are so yummy.  I'm planning to start freezing them on Thursday.  YUM!     -Jennifer