FAQ

A: All Vermont honey will naturally crystallize over time, with goldenrod honey crystallizing fairly rapidly and pure clover honey among the longest to crystallize. Beekeepers may heat and filter their honey to slow down and prevent the crystallization process and increase the shelf-life of liquid honey. Honey that is crystallized is fine to eat as is, however, if preferred, crystallized honey can be softened or even re-liquified by warming in the sealed container for a period of time.

Creamed honey is produced by seeding heated and filtered liquid honey with a small amount of very fine honey crystals, mixing it, and then storing it at temperatures around 57°F for about two weeks.

A: Honey distributed for the mass market in plastic jars such as the bear-shaped containers has usually been heated and ultra-filtered to prevent it from crystallizing.

It is difficult to extract crystallized honey from a plastic bear container, and heating the plastic container to liquify the honey will often melt the plastic.

A: Vermont does not have a definition of raw honey in statute, but in general raw honey is understood to be honey that has not been heated excessively. As mentioned above, the heating retards the crystallization process. Excessive temperatures can damage the flavor, quality, and enzymes contained in the honey. Some of the best Vermont honey has never been heated at all.

A: Honey that has only been run through a strainer to remove just large chunks of wax and propolis is considered unfiltered. Unfiltered honey will still contain the pollen and propolis that are naturally occurring in honey.

A: The queen bee lives for up to 3 years. She is the busiest in the summer months when the hive needs to be at its maximum strength. Workers live only about 5 weeks in the summer, but winter bees can live 5 months.

A: The average honey bee will actually make only one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime, but there are up to 80,000 honey bees in a colony. Each bee will visit 50–100 flowers per flight, and bees in the colony must visit two million flowers to produce one pound of honey.

A: Honey bees pollinate 130 US crops, including fruits, vegetables, and tree nuts. A single colony of honey bees can pollinate 300 million flowers per day.

The annual value of US crops pollinated by honey bees is $12.4 billion.