Tests Show Most Store Honey Isn’t Honey

Ultra-filtering Removes Pollen, Hides Honey Origins

BY ANDREW SCHNEIDER | NOVEMBER 7, 2011

More than three-fourths of the honey sold in U.S. grocery stores isn’t exactly what the bees produce, according to testing done exclusively for Food Safety News.

The results show that the pollen frequently has been filtered out of products labeled “honey.”

The removal of these microscopic particles from deep within a flower would make the nectar flunk the quality standards set by most of the world’s food safety agencies.

In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration says that any product that’s been ultra-filtered and no longer contains pollen isn’t honey. However, the FDA isn’t checking honey sold here to see if it contains pollen.

Ultra filtering is a high-tech procedure where honey is heated, sometimes watered down and then forced at high pressure through extremely small filters to remove pollen, which is the only foolproof sign identifying the source of the honey. It is a spin-off of a technique refined by the Chinese, who have illegally dumped tons of their honey – some containing illegal antibiotics – on the U.S. market for years.

Food Safety News decided to test honey sold in various outlets after its earlier investigation found U.S. groceries flooded with Indian honey banned in Europe as unsafe because of contamination with antibiotics, heavy metal and a total lack of pollen which prevented tracking its origin.

Food Safety News purchased more than 60 jars, jugs and plastic bears of honey in 10 states and the District of Columbia.

The contents were analyzed for pollen by Vaughn Bryant, a professor at Texas A&M University and one of the nation’s premier melissopalynologists, or investigators of pollen in honey.

Bryant, who is director of the Palynology Research Laboratory, found that among the containers of honey provided by Food Safety News:

•76 percent of samples bought at groceries had all the pollen removed, These were stores like TOP Food, Safeway, Giant Eagle, QFC, Kroger, Metro Market, Harris Teeter, A&P, Stop & Shop and King Soopers.

•100 percent of the honey sampled from drugstores like Walgreens, Rite-Aid and CVS Pharmacy had no pollen.

READ MORE

• 2 Monarch tangerines
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 scoops best-quality vanilla ice cream
• Club soda
   

1. Remove the rind from the tangerines
2. Supreme the tangerines into a small bowl and squeeze the juice from the membrane over them
3. Stir in the vanilla
4. Transfer tangerines and juice to a tall glass
5. Add the ice cream to the glass
6. Top off with the club soda
7. Stir once and serve immediately with a tall spoon

• 2 boneless Muscovy duck breast halves (about 1 3/4 pounds total)
•  3/4 cup chopped shallots
•  2 1/4 cups canned low-salt chicken broth
•  1 1/2 cups orange juice
•  4 1/2 teaspoons Earl Grey tea leaves or 5 tea bags, leaves removed from bags
•  1 tablespoon honey
•  3 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
•  Orange segments (optional)

1. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the orange juice and tomatoes.

2. Bring to a boil and stir in the broccoli.

3. Stir in the oregano and red pepper flakes, then cook until the broccoli it just tender and bright green - a couple minutes (Do your best to avoid overcooking the broccoli).

4. Season with salt and pepper, and transfer to a serving dish.

5. Drizzle with the olive oil, and sprinkle with the cheese and almonds before serving.

Adapted from True Food: True Food: Seasonal, Sustainable, Simple, Pure by Andrew Weil, M.D., Sam Fox, and Michael Stebner

What’s great about fruits? Fruits are low in calories and fat and are a source of simple sugars, fiber, and vitamins – all things essential to our health.

 Fruits provide:

•  Plenty of soluble dietary fiber
• Anti-oxidants like poly-phenolic flavonoids, vitamin-C, and anthocyanin’s
• The ability to fight against ailments by boosting our immunity level
•  High anti-oxidant value

Fruit nutrition benefits are infinite! You are protecting yourself from minor ailments like wrinkling of skin, hair-fall, memory loss, Alzheimer’s disease, colon cancers, weak bones and more!

Need to up your intake of healthy and tasty fruit? We can help! At CeeBee’s Citrus we offer the most nutritious and delicious oranges, grapefruits, tangerines and honey bells in our popular combo packs. Check out our weekly special – a 6 pound sampler with free shipping! Contact us with questions about your fruit selections, we are always happy to help!

Orange blossoms don’t only look beautiful and smell delightful. They make for a sensational herbal tea brew too!

•  Shake the tree, the petals and blossom will fall onto the cloth.
  • Important disclaimer: If you shake the tree and make the blossoms fall off before they are ready, you risk losing some of the fruit crop. The fruit forms out of the blossoms, and if they are not allowed to fall naturally the fruit might not form.
• Take out any leaves or twigs so just the blossom is left.
• Find a place to lay the blossom out, it must be very dry. This can take several hours or days depending on the humidity of the area. When the blossom is completely crispy and slightly browning then you know it´s dry.
• Store the blossom in a jar in the fridge to make sure that it doesn’t go off.
• To brew the tea, boil some petals in hot water. Approximately 1 teaspoon per person is enough to acquire the taste.
• Once brewed you will need to sweeten the tea with Honey, sugar or sweetener. The best option is Orange blossom honey!

Orange peel zest contains oils of the orange and, therefore, adds flavor that is compatible to a variety of dishes. There are several kitchen utensils you can use to zest an orange, include a microplane, grater, vegetable peeler or knife. We challenge you to get zesty and used orange peel in your next recipe. Need some help? Here is a great holiday salad recipe from yummly.com that utilizes orange zest:

The combination of the soil in southern Florida, combined with the Florida sunshine that the region is famous for are ideal growing conditions for oranges. That is why Florida oranges quickly developed a reputation for being the biggest, juiciest, most delicious oranges grown in the US. In fact, that is one of the many reasons our grove is so special, the layout of our land ensures a perfect growing climate. Our location in western Florida is prized by the citrus growers lucky enough to own land there.

http://lifehacker.com/5873655/convert-an-orange-into-a-candle-with-a-little-kitchen-oil

Local Raw Honey is a valuable commodity. As many of our customers know, eating local raw honey will help reduce your allergy symptoms. But unfortunately many people don't know the difference between raw honey and processed honey, which has had most of the pollen removed. This helpful article explains the difference:

Food Safety Watch disagrees, and says removing all of the pollen from honey removes any way to test for its geographic origins, doesn't improve shelf-life, negates the possible health benefits of pollen, and is actually being used to cover up the import of unregulated and often contaminated honey from China through another country like India and finally into the US.

We harvest honey on our grove, not only for our customers, but also because the bees offer natural pollination of the trees. If you're looking for raw honey in the Tampa Bay area stop by our grove store, or check out our local shopping page for a list of retailers.

Here's some handy tips from the Ventura County Star.

Use citrus to lighten the meal, not it's impact

Citrus Fruits: Phytochemicals in oranges, tangerines and grapefruits may help the body resist cancer-causing chemicals (carcinogens), prevent harmful blood clotting and avoid eye problems.

So satisfy your craving for delicious fruit and do something good for yourself, all with one little click.

Michael Sparks, executive vice president of Florida Citrus Mutual had this to say:

"With all the challenges we faced, from cold weather to pest and disease to the drought conditions, the quality of the 2010-2011 crop shows how skilled the Florida citrus grower is at producing their product."

Cee Bee's Citrus was lucky enough to make it through the season without any major freeze damage, and we're looking forward to another good year next season!

 "Four out of five women asked to eat a grapefruit a day for a fortnight said their concentration was excellent or very good in comparison to before the trial period.

 Two thirds reported higher energy levels, 81 per cent said their hair improved while 58.5 per cent said they had lost weight."

The report also shows that grapefruit consumption in much of the world has declined because the white grapefruit available in many parts of the globe is sour and requires additional sugar that negates the health benefits. Our customers don't have that problem because all Cee Bee's Citrus Grapefruit, including our signature Duncan White Grapefruit, our sweet and juicy. So do yourself a favor and order some today!

“As a cardiologist and prescribing physician, a number of my patients have asked me about grapefruit-drug interactions with statins, and atorvastatin in particular,” says Dr. Reddy. “But until now, we have not known the effects of consuming typical amounts of grapefruit juice on the efficacy and safety of atorvastatin in patients requiring treatment. While there is a potential grapefruit-statin interaction with other statins (for example, simvastatin and lovastatin), this interaction does not appear to be significant with grapefruit and atorvastatin.”

Your family will love this Asian tinged dish. If you can get your hands on Jasmine Rice, now available at most supermarkets, it will give the dish a more authentic flavor. We suggest using Cee Bee's Citrus Navel Oranges for this dish, but any fresh orange will do. Make sure to wash the orange before you zest it!

Cee Bee’s “Ono” Orange Chicken

1 ½ cups jasmine rice or long-grain white rice

2 cups Cee Bee’s Citrus fresh squeezed orange juice

3 tablespoons soy sauce

3 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce or to taste, to your desire of heat

1 tablespoon cornstarch w/ 3oz of water for slurry-to thicken sauce

Zest of 1 whole orange, peel orange and segment

2 large eggs

Salt and black pepper to taste

Flour for dredging chicken in flour

8 oz broccoli florets

8 oz of baby carrots

1 ½  lbs of boneless, skinless chicken breast

2 tablespoons chopped green onion

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

PREPARATION:

Heat oil in deep-fryer to 375 degrees F

Cook rice according to package directions. Cover to keep warm; set aside

In a small sauce pot, over medium-high heat, add the orange juice, zest, soy sauce, brown sugar, and sweet chili sauce. Reduce by half. Add cornstarch, water mixture to sauce starting with just half to thicken to your desired consistency. Peel orange and segment. Set aside.

In a medium sauce pot, add water on medium-high heat, add 1 tablespoon of salt and parboil florets for approx 3 min. Strain and set aside. Parboil baby carrots for approx 4-5 minutes. Strain and set aside.

Cut chicken into 2-inch squares and place in a large bowl. Dredge the chicken pieces with flour. Stir in egg, salt and pepper.  Dredge once more with flour. Add a small batch at a time to fryer, and fry for 3-4 minutes or until golden and crisp. Remove chicken from oil and drain on paper towels. Set aside. Repeat 

In a large sauté pan, medium high heat, add chicken and vegetables.  Pour sauce into pan and toss to cover chicken and vegetables.  Lightly toss in oranges segments.  Serve with jasmine rice.   Garnish with green onions and red pepper flakes.

Orange Vanilla Smothie

1 cup milk
3/4 cup vanilla yogurt or vanilla ice cream
6 oz Cee Bee’s Citrus orange juice
1 tbsp. Cee Bee’s orange blossom honey (or to taste)
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla
1 dozen ice cubes

Process all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Taste and adjust flavorings. Serve immediately.