WHAT'S THE BUZZ?

So I'm sitting in a diner called Big Daddy's at 2am with a group of 9 people. I endured watching them eat gorgeous veggie burgers and drink their oreo milkshakes while I sipped on my organic chamomile-lemon tea. That was the ONLY organic thing on the robust menu and I once again didn't want to be a social downer.

The honey that accompanied my tea became the table's topic of discussion.
My beautiful tea package said "PURE" honey. It said that it's produced by the Dickinson family in Oxnard, California. Could this imply that it's organic even though the word organic is not on the label? Many people have told me that some farmers can't afford the USDA label but it doesn't mean that they're not organic.

Back to the honey... I am somewhat of an authority on bees and honey since my grandfather used to be a beekeeper (despite his risk of going into anaphylactic shock from a bee sting). I myself was part of the Beekeepers Association of Kentucky for a few years. I have always been conscious of where my honey came from, but these days you can never be too sure. I have always avoided honey from China (you usually see them in the squeeze bears) because they boiled all of the nutritional benefits out of it. In 2007 Chinese honey was so bad that it was banned in the US and so the Chinese would ship it to Australia and then to the US to make it look like Australian honey. The reason Chinese honey is now banned is because it now contains the antibiotic chloramphenicol which has been linked to cancer.

I would consider Canada a very clean, wholesome kind of landscape overall, but bees will pollinate a plant whether it has pesticides or not and Canada is not exempt from pesticides. The honey can't just be a candidate for organic just because of that. However a beekeeper can know the source of his honey just by looking at the color of the honey and knowing what plants are grown around him. For example honey that is lighter in Kentucky means it's usually coming from a clover flower. Those are great for tasting. Darker honey is great for baking.

While writing this entry I decided to look up the brand since I'm not familiar with them. I can assume they have the money to do Organic labeling because they have a line of Organic Jams with the USDA label. This particular container is distributed by Smuckers.

In addition they were kind enough to post the link for the USDA organic guidelines.

And that's all the "BUZZ" for today!