What is Raw Unfiltered Honey?
What do your morning yogurt bowl and your evening cheese board have in common? Hint: it’s more than just dairy! In both cases, the quality of each ingredient has an outsized impact on the overall taste, appearance, and nutritional profile of the meal. High-quality organic yogurt topped with fresh, local peaches and drizzled with raw, unfiltered honey tastes so much better, and is better for you, than a highly processed, sugary yogurt product. Similarly, a warm, soft artisan brie with a hint of raw honey on top is far more savory, sweet, and satisfying than the average highly-processed block of cheddar you’d find in the grocery store.
Most conscious consumers already know that it’s important to consider where food comes from, especially for certain staple ingredients. Olive oil and coffee are well-recognized as examples of foods for which origin and quality are key; honey should fall into this category, too. Many honeys available for purchase are processed, filtered, and contain unhealthy additives like high-fructose corn syrup, so, just as you’d look for a certified EVOO when choosing an olive oil, it’s important to look for raw, unfiltered honey from a reputable producer when choosing honey. When you pour real, raw, unfiltered honey into your afternoon tea, you can rest assured that you’re adding a healthy dose of sweetness.
What is raw honey?
What does raw honey mean? Raw, unfiltered honey is often described as honey straight from the beehive. This means that once the honey has been harvested from the hive, it is not heated, filtered, or processed. It also doesn’t include any additives like water or high fructose corn syrup. It goes as directly from the beehive to your bowl as possible.
Unlike olive oil labels which are regulated by regional and international governing bodies, honey isn’t legally regulated in the United States, though the FDA does offer guidelines. This means that when you’re purchasing raw or unfiltered honey, you should pay extra attention to the producer. Make sure your raw honey comes from a small-scale producer whom you can trust to honor the meaning behind the terms raw and unfiltered. Organic and regenerative producers like Frantoio Grove are a great choice.
Raw Honey vs. Regular Honey
What your average consumer might call “regular honey”, the translucent, golden, syrupy kind that commercial producers have normalized, isn’t really regular honey at all. It’s been through many stages of processing that transform it from a nutritious, nuanced, and fresh food to a clean shelf-stable sweetener stripped of its original character.
When producing commercial honey, large-scale producers rely on pasteurization. Pasteurization, or exposing the honey to high heat, kills wild yeast that would otherwise cause the honey to ferment. It also delays crystallization, which, even though it is normal and safe, tends to alarm mass-market consumers who expect honey to stay liquid on the shelf indefinitely.
Even without pasteurization, honey is remarkably resistant to spoilage thanks to a combination of properties. Its low water content, high sugar concentration, and acidity create an environment where most bacteria and molds simply cannot survive. One important contributor to honey’s natural defense system is glucose oxidase, an enzyme bees add during honey production that generates hydrogen peroxide and gluconic acid, both of which have antimicrobial properties. Unfortunately, pasteurization destroys glucose oxidase, meaning that commercial honey may resist crystallization and fermentation on the shelf, but it no longer retains all of its natural antimicrobial properties.
Raw Honey vs. Unfiltered Honey
We've covered raw honey, but what is raw and unfiltered honey?
While raw honey is honey that goes directly from hive to bottle without pasteurization, unfiltered honey has its own definition. Bees produce honey from the nectar of different plants, so different raw honeys have unique flavor profiles, tastes, smells, and textures based on their plant composition. When honey is first removed from a beehive, it can contain wax and parts of bees as well as the plant pollen and antioxidant contents that give the honey its unique character. Whereas most beekeepers will filter out large impurities like wax or bee parts by default, commercial producers take filtration much further. Their intense filtration process results in an attractive, transparent, liquid honey, but it compromises the micronutrients, antioxidants, and pollen that differentiate honey flavors.
The price of a shiny, syrupy bottle of golden honey is the rich blend of enzymes, pollen, and antioxidants that commercial filtration reduces. Whereas commercial producers lean into this one-honey-fits-all model, small-batch producers like Frantoio Grove seek out distinctive honeys that show off the nuance and beauty of their local flora, making for a richer, more nuanced tasting experience.
What "Pure Honey" Means
When browsing honey options, you may wonder: is pure honey the same as raw honey? Buyers should be wary of the term “pure honey.” This term is not regulated by any governing body, so it is, essentially, meaningless. The same goes for “premium” and “natural” honey. These terms can be green lights when used by reputable producers, but they are rife with misuse and abuse on a commercial scale.
In short, honey labels can be fraudulent. So much so that the EU's coordinated honey fraud investigation in 2021-2022 tested 320 imported honey samples and found 46% were suspicious of adulteration, including sugar syrup dilution and pollen removal to hide geographic origin. Since honey producers can and do get away with mislabeling their honey, it’s very important to shop with a trusted producer. Look for honey producers who are open about their process and share the details of their craft. For example, our product descriptions include brief overviews of where exactly each of our honeys were gathered and which tasting notes consumers can expect. The more transparent the information, (even if the honey is cloudy, thanks to pollen and antioxidant content) the better!
Why Raw Honey Is Different (And Better)
So, what is the difference between honey and raw honey? Is raw honey better? For those who relish the thrill of tasting varied and nuanced flavor profiles from different geographic regions, raw honey is up there with wine, coffee, and olive oil. Like other local, artisan food products, raw honey takes on the flavors of its region and climate, showing off what the French would call terroir. Just as a sommelier can identify where a wine comes from by its color, nose, and taste, so too is honey traceable. Based on its unique pollen content, experts can identify where in the world a given raw honey originated. None of this is possible with commercial honey, which is stripped of its uniqueness in favor of a predictable, cheaper product.
While your friends may be surprised, at first, if you become a honey snob overnight, the honeybees will thank you. These days, honeybees are under extraordinary pressure. Between habitat loss, declining floral diversity, and the ongoing threat of Colony Collapse Disorder, the conditions that make great honey possible are increasingly hard to come by. Sourcing of honey matters, and so we, like many ethical local producers, opt to work directly with beekeepers who prioritize hive health and forage quality. At Frantoio Grove, we believe the best honey starts long before it reaches the jar, and when you choose real, raw and unfiltered honey, you’re supporting local honeybees, local beekeepers, and local businesses.
Ready to take the leap into raw, unfiltered sweetness? Explore our Frantoio Grove honey collection today!
