Honey’s Clarity is of great concern to larger honey producers which sell on a national basis. Unfortunately, the process improving the clarity involves heating and pumping it through fine filters. While this may improve the clarity and appeal to the uninformed consumer, this process removes the pollen, propolis, and tiny bits of beeswax and the excessive heat destroys the honey's beneficial enzymes.
Raw (Unfiltered or Unprocessed) Honey tends to exhibit a "wax ring." Although a majority of the wax is removed during the initial settling, following the extraction process, microscopic particles of wax will float to the top as the honey continues to settle in the jar. At Black Cat Honey we guarantee you will get all of our honey's natural benefits, as everything we sell is strained - not filtered or heated (processed) to anything higher than the bee's heat it. If honey gets cool or cold it will granulate to a semi-solid state, if this happens, just warm the bottle of honey in a warm water bath till it returns to a liquid, (about 120 deg).
The Color of Honey varies widely with the floral source. The spectrum ranges between white from such sources as Orange Blossom Honey to dark amber from our Wildflower Honey. The color is also affected by the time of year it is produced, with the lighter honey coming earlier in the season, followed by darker honey as the season progresses. We also have some "specialty" flavors, such as apple blossom, raspberry blossom, blueberry and a Victorian Rose bud honey to name a few.
In general, dark colored honeys are richer in mineral content and are more likely to have a stronger - distinct - flavor than light colored honeys. Though this is NOT a hard fast rule.
Liquid honey is the most common honey seen. Our liquid honey is simply extracted (usually spun, though sometimes crushed) from the beeswax honey comb). To extract the honey, the beeswax cappings are removed from the comb and placed into a centrifugal spinner, which removes the honey. The liquid honey is set aside to settling. After a few hours, the pure honey is drained from the bottom of the tank, the final bits of wax are strained out, and the honey is put into containers.
Creamed honey (granulated) is 100% pure honey which has been finely granulated into a paste and spreads like butter at room temperature. Unfortunately creamed honey is sensitive to temperature. If it ever gets above about 100 degrees, it will return to liquid. Also, the consistency of creamed honey will get stiffer at lower temperatures. Store and use creamed honey at room temperature, but protect it from overheating!
Comb honey is honey still in the beeswax comb the way the bees stored it. The comb as well as the honey is edible, just chew it like you would gum.
Black Cat Honey is proud to "bee" your local beekeeper. Purchasing pure raw natural honey from us is like stopping to taste the flowers.
