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Raw Clover Honey

Raw clover honey defined in technical terms, is organic clover honey that has not lost its natural benefits through processing.  When it is extracted, raw clover honey may have particles of wax, propolis, pollen, bee parts, and other hive debris present in it.  Because this is unappetizing, processors remove most or all of these impurities.  This is typically accomplished through either filtration, or straining.

Filtration removes all of the particles, including the beneficial ones.  Straining is more preferable, as it leaves behind good things, such as pollen that is healthful and nutritious, while removing the larger particles of debris, which are typically what are considered to be unpleasant.  The more important definition of raw clover honey, is not however, whether these properties are present in the honey, rather, it is whether or not the honey has been heated, and if so, to what temperature extremes.  At higher temperatures, the enzymes in the honey will break down.  This process is known as pasteurization.  This process is often incorporated by large commercial packagers as it extends the shelf life on the grocery store shelf (the time it takes for granulation to occur), however, it is harmful to the honey.  Honey is naturally healthful in its supply of vitamins, minerals and enzymes.  If care is not taken with the preparation, the wonderful benefits nature places in the honey can be destroyed.  Pasteurizing honey also darkens it, changes its flavor, and can be considered generally cooking the honey.

At Browning’s, we take great care to keep the honey we liquefy at lower temperatures to preserve the fragile enzymes.  We do not pasteurize our honey.  We employ the technique of straining our liquid honey, rather than using filtration, to retain as much of the natural pollen as we can.  Our number one goal is to provide for you honey that is in a pure and usable form, and is rich in its supply of all of the beneficial nutrients you expect.  If you are looking for raw clover honey or organic clover honey which has had no heat application whatsoever, you will no doubt prefer our raw clover honey presented as our Old-fashioned Creamed Style.  This product is raw extracted honey which has crystalized in the drum and has been “spun” or whipped to make the crystals very fine and smooth.  It has not been strained and has not had any heat applied to it.

Raw clover honey can be quite difficult to use in every day situations because freshly extracted clover honey will begin to crystalize shortly thereafter.  Depending on the particular circumstance, solid granulated honey must be warmed to measure it accurately for cooking, or if placed in a hot beverage or mixture, it will be heated to a higher temperature than it would normally be to be liquefied, and will therefore lose some of the benefits it was chosen for anyway.  If being used for skin applications, or if being eaten as is in its granulated state, it makes sense.  Otherwise, for more palatabilty, try our Creamed Honey which is the same thing in a better form and spreads nicely without the graininess of raw crystalized honey.  If cooking with honey, or sweetening hot cereals, beverages, etc., do yourself a favor and use our liquid honey which has been handled with great care and blends into things more easily.  If you’re going to heat the honey anyway, it just doesn’t make sense to go to all the trouble and expense of singling out something because it hasn’t been heated only to heat it yourself.

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