The term "raw honey" is often bandied about by folks trying to sell honey as a healing food. They are right about how good it is for you, however, the term has no legal definition, so you may be getting honey that is not really raw.
Honey that is really raw, has either never been heated, or if it is heated, never above a temperature where fragile enzymes are destroyed. Our honey is usually never heated, and when it is, never over 125 degrees Farenheit - just enough so that honey that has crystallized will flow again. Honey that still has its enzymes intact will often crystalize. This is a normal occurence, and is the reason why most honey is pasteurized in order to kill the enzymes responsible for crystallization.
When looking for good honey, you want one that is minimally filtered, and unheated or heated to very low temperatures like ours. While straining is desirable to remove debris and bee body parts, you want honey that still has pollen and other naturally occuring bee products. Many people report improvement in seasonal allergies and related bronchial infections when regularly consuming this kind of honey.
Some of our customers have commented to us how darker in color our honey is than raw honey from the health food store. Part of the light color in health food store honey is due to the fact that they cryztalize the honey. We do not know why they do this. However, even if it were not crystallized, it would still be very light in color. Good honey is dark honey. Just like small deeply colored berries are better for you than lighter fluffier fruit, so darker honey is also higher in antioxidants. Big companies just cannot compete with smaller local beekeepers in producing the quality honey we offer.
Our honey comes from small local beekeepers here in Kentucky and Tennessee. We carefully question each beekeeper as to their methods to ensure that the honey we offer meets our requirements as we have just stated. We buy it in bulk and then bottle it ourselves to offer to you.