Where to buy pasteurized honey

Honey, in its natural form, is one of the safest, most shelf-stable food products you can eat. Why Is Honey So Important?

How to Get Involved Become a Member. The honey is then cooled quickly after the heating process to lock in the left-over nutrients before packaging. These steps are followed largely by factories producing pasteurized honey for consumption. They use large machines to complete these steps and the final product is a translucent liquid-like consistency with a golden tinge. The honey is then dispensed into glass jars or bottles, before being shipped off to various supermarkets for sale.

If you are looking to pasteurize more locally sourced honey or are thinking of becoming a beekeeper, then you will need to purchase your own equipment to heat your honey. The process of heating smaller amounts of honey is much less intricate.

You can even do this using a saucepan and your stove at home. You can follow this guide here for a DIY pasteurization of honey at home. Clostridium botulinum is a bacterium produced by botulinum spores. These spores can be found in honey.

They produce toxins in food and can lead to botulism if consumed. Botulism is a dangerous form of food poisoning and requires immediate medical attention. It is a particular risk with infants as it can, in some cases, be fatal. Although these spores are found in honey, honey is not a hospitable environment for them to produce clostridium botulinum. You need to recognize that the spores found in honey are not the actual bacteria themselves.

They produce the bacteria, but only in the right conditions. It is the bacteria that then creates toxins and botulism. However, there is a complication here. These spores can survive in extreme conditions such as high temperatures. They produce toxins when exposed to lower oxygen levels and temperatures. For healthy adults, if you consume a botulism spore, and not the bacteria itself, then it will pass through your system and you will be unharmed.

Yet, for newborns and young infants, consuming botulinum spores can be dangerous. This is because their intestines are not yet fully developed. If these spores are consumed, then there is a chance Clostridium botulinum can grow in their gut and create the toxins that lead to botulism.

This can be fatal for infants. Pasteurizing honey is high enough in temperature to kill toxins and bacteria. But it will not kill the bacteria spores. This is because the temperature to which honey is heated in the pasteurizing process is not high enough to kill them. The upside to this is that botulism is incredibly rare. Especially in honey, where there is such an inhospitable environment for bacteria to grow.

The spores can survive, but they cannot produce bacteria. With this knowledge, it can be argued that pasteurizing honey, to reduce the risk of botulism, is quite redundant.

If honey is unlikely to contain bacteria in it anyway, and the pasteurization process does not kill the spores, then why do we pasteurize honey?

New-time parents need to recognize that both raw honey and pasteurized honey are a risk to give to a small child. Although bacteria cannot grow in the environment of honey, there may be spores in there that will thrive in an underdeveloped intestine which can lead to botulism. It is not worth taking the risk with infants, even when the honey has been through this heating process. Honey will never go bad. However, it will crystalize.

The time frame of the crystallization process varies significantly depending on the type of honey you have. For example, some honey can crystalize in a matter of days, whereas for others it is a matter of months. Pasteurization can help to slow this process down, but the variants impacting this time frame are much larger than just pasteurizing alone. Honey is a preservative that will last for thousands and thousands of years if stored correctly.

If the honey does not come into an environment with cold temperatures, then it will keep its liquid consistency for much longer. Additionally, even when the honey has crystalized, it is still ok for consumption. Honey will ferment and taste sour if you allow moisture into it. If your honey has fermented, then it is not safe to consume. This is the case for both raw and pasteurized honey.

What is Unpasteurized Honey? Pasteurized honey must be heated to a minimum There's a reason that Canadians love the great outdoors. It has some of the most awe-inspiring landscapes in the world, from vast lakes and forests to stunning Creamy, delicious and totally good for you—yup, avocados are basically the perfect food.

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Their scientific name, Cucurbita kew-ker-beet-ah , is almost as Already have an account? Log in now. No spam ever! Read our privacy policy. For the most updated allergen and nutritional information, it is important that you read the ingredient. Set up your Flavor Profile or log in to:. Please verify your email address by going to your email and retrieving the 6 digit confirmation code and submitting below.

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