Thursday, November 12, 2009

Fresh Local Honey

Each fall we go to a family farm about 20 minutes away, they are just outside a smaller town. We pick our pumpkins out there- so much cheaper than anywhere in town and I love going to the farm. It's comforting to me, to be out in the country and talk with the person who grew the veggies. They really enjoy what they do and are happy to tell you how to cook/preserve anything. But probably my favorite part of going is getting fresh honey. They sell it as they take it out of the hive-- beautiful! It costs us about $15 for a smaller section, I think that works out to $2/lb.
We don't mind the wax in it, I rather like the crunch and the fresh smell/taste. I have only heard a little bit about the benefits of local raw honey, helping with seasonal allergies. I really need to research that a little more. I do not give Titus honey though (he is still a baby), but everyone else enjoys it.
We scrap it off and put it into jars. I was told if you don't care for the wax to set the honey comb on a sieve and place near the stove where it can heat. Leave it all day and the honey will drip down into the bowl without the wax.






7 comments:

Cara said...

How cool! I'd love to know more about this ;) And I've been giving Sam honey since about 6 months :oP

Rachel said...

I'd be happy to give you their number- he gave it to me in case I wanted more honey in the winter, they still had 20 or more sections, I don't really remember.
I had actually heard it's only unpasteurized honey that you need to be concerned about the botchulism in, so I don't give my babies raw honey, but everything from the store has been pasteurized. I still don't know for sure- but that's what I heard.

Cara said...

Yeah, I'd love the number!

Cara said...

K, so I looked up botulism on the CDC, and it looks like it's from honey or corn syrup, pasteurized or not. Interesting. I didn't find all the statistics I want, gotta keep looking ;) Funny that everyone knows botulism spores are in honey, but they conveniently leave out that they are likely in corn syrup as well. And it looks like it's more likely in California (50+% of all cases)

Rachel said...

Good job! So what was the age they say their systems can handle it? over 2? I don't remember. Interesting that it's more in CA- what's the deal with that?
And now that you mentioned it, I remember hearing that we're not supposed to give our babies corn syrup either. It used to be given for diarrhea or something, great, eh?

Chris said...

There's not much better than fresh honey on just about anything - and so good for you too. Have a nice weekend

Cara said...

This is way fun! Mine's in jars now :)

About botulism- it looks like it always occurs 'during the first 2 months of life' ... so... I guess I wouldn't give a newborn honey-water (I gave Hannah sugar water when she wouldn't nurse at first) but by the time they're eating foods, after 6 months, I'm not going to worry about if they eat a little of what we're eating and it has honey in it. It's supposed to be 12 months before they have any. That's a little extreme I think. Just my opinion, which is worth what you paid for it ;)

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