New York, NY (PRWEB) April 19, 2013
Sara Moulton will be on The Rachael Ray Show, talking about supermarket fraud Monday, April 22. Viewers will learn what to watch out for when they go shopping so they dont get duped and one of the subjects they will cover is honey.
An investigation conducted by Food Safety News (FSN) revealed that more than 75% of so-called honey sold at grocery stores, big box stores, drug stores, and restaurants in the United States did not contain any pollen, which means it is not real honey, said Mary Ross of The Mohawk Valley Trading Company where they specialize in varietal honey.
Varietal honey is made primarily from the nectar of a particular type of blossom or flower. To capture the unique character and flavor of the blossom or flower, beekeepers must study botanical bloom and flowering patterns when planning hive placement.
In addition, Ross continued, the recent admission of two of the largest honey suppliers in the United States in their involvement in smuggling and mislabeling honey from China is testament to the fact that the only way to guarantee that consumers are getting pure honey is to buy directly from reputable honey purveyors.
Honey Holding, doing business as Honey Solutions, of Baytown, Texas, and defendant Groeb Farms, Inc., of Onsted, Michigan, two of the largest honey suppliers in the United States, have both entered into deferred prosecution agreements with the government, subject to court approval, with Honey Holding agreeing to pay a $ 1 million fine and Groeb Farms agreeing to the payment of a $ 2 million fine. Both companies have agreed to implement corporate compliance programs as part of their respective agreements, according to the United States Attorney Office, Northern District of Illinois (http://www.justice.gov/usao/iln/pr/chicago/2013/pr0220_02.html). The cases are United States v. Douglas A. Murphy and Honey Holding I, 13 CR 138 and United States v. Groeb Farms, Inc., 13 CR 137, United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois.
Honey has been used by humans since ancient times for its health benefits and as a sweetener and flavoring for many foods and beverages, with tea being the most popular. Next to maple syrup, it is the most popular natural sweetener in North America.
Honey bees make honey by collecting nectar from flowers and regurgitating it into beeswax honeycombs inside their hive. Beeswax is a natural wax produced in the hive of honey bees of the genus Apis and one of its most popular uses is beeswax candles and as an ingredient in natural skin care products.
The flavor and color of honey is determined by the type of flower the bees gather the nectar from. Therefore, when cooking or baking with honey, it is a good idea to taste the honey before using it in a recipe. For example, a dark honey like tulip poplar-black locust honey will result in a strong, heavy, pungent flavor, whereas orange blossom honey will result in a delicate orange flavor. Dark-colored honey is considered to be higher in minerals and antioxidants than light-colored honey and one of the most well-known dark-colored honeys is buckwheat honey. Raw buckwheat honey contains a higher amount of minerals and an antioxidant called polyphenol, which gives it its dark color. The health benefits of buckwheat honey are many and well-known.
If you are planning to buy honey for its health benefits, it must be raw honey. Heating honey (pasteurization) destroys the all of the pollen, enzymes, propolis, vitamins, amino acids, antioxidants, minerals, and aromatics. Honey that has been heated and filtered is called commercial, regular or liquid honey. The rawest honey available is comb honey which is sections of the hexagonal-shaped beeswax cells of the honeycomb that contain raw honey that have been cut from the wooden frames of a beehive.
Using raw honey is a long-term investment strategy for optimal health and personal care; the dividends are overall mental, physical and spiritual well-being. Like a blue chip stock, raw honey should be included in any health-conscious consumers immune system boosting portfolio and the return on investment of substituting honey for refined sugar in the human diet is incalculable.
Pure honey is kosher since kosher honey must be 100% honey with no additives or dilutions, and to get the best price when buying large quantities of honey, look for a company that sells bulk or wholesale honey.
Organic honey from the United States is a myth because the country is too developed and uses too many agricultural and industrial chemicals to for the production of organic honey. Honey bees are free-roaming, wild creatures and it is impossible to guarantee that, while foraging, they have not come in contact with prohibited substances, like pesticides.
Another product made by honey bees and used by humans is bee propolis. Propolis is a resinous substance that honey bees collect from tree buds and bark or other botanical sources and mixed with beeswax, nectar and pollen. This mixture is used by bees to seal gaps in the hive and by humans for its health benefits and as a traditional, natural or homeopathic medicine.
The Mohawk Valley Trading Company offers the highest quality unprocessed natural products they can produce namely; maple syrup, honey, beeswax and natural personal care products. In addition, they offer natural stone, tea and spices from around the world.
Hours of operations are 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. EST, seven days a week. Reach them at (315)-519-2640 to learn more.
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