Buying honey is good, buying honey from a small local beekeeper is even better. Favoring the purchase of honey directly from a beekeeper will surely allow you to learn more about the type of breeding that he practices. Ideally, we will look for a beekeeper not too far from home who practices reasoned bee farming. In this type of breeding, the beekeeper will feed little or no sugar bees, they will rather consume their own honey. Consequently, he will also practice the reasoned harvest of honey, it is a question of leaving enough for the small foragers so that they can feed during the winter.
Buy organic honey?
If you do not have the time or the opportunity to go directly to the beekeeper, you can also buy organic honey in supermarket stores. Be careful, however, be sure to examine the jars, because French law does not require to note the exact origin of the honey and you will only find a mention telling you whether the honey comes from the European Union or elsewhere. Rather, you should trust the mention “harvested and potted by the beekeeper” which at least should avoid you buying honey produced in an intensive bee farm. Finally, keep your eyes open for your small traders, it often happens that some of them sell honey from small beekeepers. You can buy raw honey as well and for that you can check this website also.
The right price for good honey?
We admit, we have a huge chance, my mother-in-law produces honey herself and we can guarantee you that it is of exceptional quality and an unbeatable value for money. For the majority of between us, however, we will have to buy it because producing our own honey is not an option.
A kilo of raw (often adulterated) Chinese “honey” is 3 to 4 times cheaper than quality honey. However, personally we think that even for modest incomes, paying the price remains playable insofar as one does not eat kilos of honey each day and that one can make savings on other foodstuffs which one consumes much more regularly.
Comparison of the best honeys
Having neither the means nor the pretension to make a comparison myself in the laboratory, I give you here some relatively exhaustive comparison links made by professionals:
Comparison gives a ranking of the best honeys taking into account physicochemical measures, adulteration (voluntary modification of the product), presence or absence of pesticides, fermentation and conservation, and pollen analysis
- The comparison of honeys on UFC that you choose (paid item), a complete test of many honeys to get an idea before purchase.
How to help bees?
If you feel like a bee savior, there are other things you can do for the well-being of these insects. Here are some simple bulk actions:
Plant flowers
Practice
- Late cutting of hedges and green spaces (personally we left our lawn uncut all summer and there were lots of flowers and bees foraging).
- You can also sponsor a beehive , it’s good for the environment and it ensures delicious jars of honey all year round.
- Finally, if you have an adventurous side, why not install a nest box for wild bees in your garden?
- Do not use any chemical insecticide in your garden
