[sgiitk]

A simple solution - excess of anything is bad. Eat honey, by all means, but in moderation.

Remember their report about pesticides in Cola's. Never checked tap water to compare, probably it is ten times worse.

[Daewood]

Originally Posted by n.devdath

Also, how does one find out if the honey being sold is not adulterated?

I read somewhere that ants don't eat pure honey.
Tested the concept in many branded ones and ants always ate them.

Never believed the theory till i tested it with crude honey bought from a road-side vendor lady in Yelagiri Hills. The ant theory worked!!!

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Does anyone know of any shop selling forest-gathered honey? I expect it will be expensive.

The honey i bought in Yelagiri was cheaper than the branded ones and also tasted better. Chennai to yelagiri is a 4hr journey. Pure Honey doesn't have an expiry date too. So stocking up is also an option.

[amitk26]

Well we need to remember Dabur or any other brand does not produce honey in factories they purchase from apiculturists and process ( heat below boiling point to prevent spoiling) and market.

So if there is antibiotic it is because so called apiculture experts provide antibiotics as necessary ingredient to keep bees healthy.
Brand does not matter here.

Question arises why all honey taste same as we all know taste of honey depends on the flower from where bee collect nector. That is because bee's no longer collect nectar from flowers in captive bee colonies a solution of jaggary / molasses with appropriate amount of vitamins / minerals / antibiotics to keep bee healthy is put in pans near to the colony and thus honey is mass produced.

China is number 1 in such honey production , When Europe banned Chinese origin honey due to antibiotics they diverted a lot of production showing it as Indian or Nepalese honey.

So if you are buying honey from a place which has abundance of flowers like Coorg or from farmers during the mustard season in north India then you can be sure of pure natural honey but if environment is polluted you will get those pollutants anyway.

PS : I have personally tasted unprocessed honey from Cardamom plantation tastes best.
It is slightly pink in color.

[alpha1]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

A simple solution - excess of anything is bad. Eat honey, by all means, but in moderation.

Remember their report about pesticides in Cola's. Never checked tap water to compare, probably it is ten times worse.

Absolutely.

Probably we just need to see how much of honey a person would be eating in a month.
And how much anti-biotics he is taking in.

What is the permissible limit.

And then compare it to pesticides we take everyday when we eat fruits and veggies.

I am sure honey threat will become negligible.


You know one day I was reading about this bacteria - which is good for our intestines.
Early man used to get the daily dose of this bacteria by eating dirt/dust along with his food (unintentionally of course).

Now we clean everything, and hence need to eat yogurt etc to keep healthy levels of this bacteria. (Lacto-baccilus or something)

[Wolfheart]

Originally Posted by alpha1

Absolutely.

I am sure honey threat will become negligible.

The article says that most countries have banned honey containing antibiotics. I'm sure atleast some of those countries have found the honey to be disadvantageous in the long run. Why should we compromise and have low standards in case of honey or anything else?

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by alpha1

You know one day I was reading about this bacteria - which is good for our intestines.
Early man used to get the daily dose of this bacteria by eating dirt/dust along with his food (unintentionally of course).

Now we clean everything, and hence need to eat yogurt etc to keep healthy levels of this bacteria. (Lacto-baccilus or something)

Not we Indians and not by dirt dust by any remote imagination, It is present in the "Dahi" or curd which is set using live bacteria.

In western countries you get only Yogurt where culture is killed during pasteurization so people take pro-biotic products which is nothing but what people used to do traditionally.

Most of the literature on web is influenced by west and as per that all vegetarians either should take B complex supplements or should die of B complex deficiency but that does not actually happen here because vegetarians eat lot of live food like curds and other fermented items in daily diet

[Thad E Ginathom]

We get live yoghurt in West too, even in supermarkets, but the big additional pro-biotic product market is like the bottled water market in those countries: self-created with pure hype.

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

We get live yoghurt in West too, even in supermarkets, but the big additional pro-biotic product market is like the bottled water market in those countries: self-created with pure hype.

Good to know is it just in UK ? Because I could only find the flavored run of the mill yoghurt not the live one in US and Germany / Spain/Sweden. How ever lots of pro-biotic stuff calming everything under the sun with same old Lacto Bacillus Acdii / Casei
May be I never looked at right place.

Slightly OT but One funny thing there is a product called Yakult from Japan in Japan and Korea I saw bottles but could not understand what exactly it is. Now in India it is launched so I know it is milk + suger + Lactobacillus casei ( Same as in Cheese i think).

[pjbiju]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

I wish I could buy what I would call good honey here. Does anyone know of any shop selling forest-gathered honey? I expect it will be expensive.

Try it in Kerala especially near the forest areas. Tribals usually sell them there.

I used to go along with my father and brother to collect honey from the trees/forests/rubber estates around my home as a kid and we always used to have that at home. So we never had to buy honey. Sadly that is not the case today.

Try to get what they call "cheruthen" in Malayalam (Ask your wife). They are supposed to be more medicinal than the normal honey. Cheruthen is produced by bees that are extremely small and they cannot sting you. But they are also quite rare to find and collect.

-Biju

[Thad E Ginathom]

Wow... we actually have some bees making a hove in the tree just outside our kitchen window, but I do not want to disturb them, and wouldn't know how to go about it anyway. If my wife (you have a good memory for the details ) doesn't know, then we have other family members that grew up in Kerala. I'm thinking of a trip to Thiruvanandapuram in January.

amitk26, I can only really speak for UK, so I should be more careful about using more inclusive terms such as "Europe" or "The West".

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Wow... we actually have some bees making a hove in the tree just outside our kitchen window, but I do not want to disturb them, and wouldn't know how to go about it anyway. If my wife (you have a good memory for the details ) doesn't know, then we have other family members that grew up in Kerala. I'm thinking of a trip to Thiruvanandapuram in January.

Don't worry once it is big enough and there is honey some of the other honey collector will approach you on his own.

About 3 years ago We had 2 big ones in our apartment and 10 -15 kg honey was extracted. We purchased 7 Kg then but bees have not returned after that probably our place has too much traffic and pollution now.

Shoo away the pest control guys they are scare mongers who unnecessarily spray chemicals and kill bees for nothing.

[Thad E Ginathom]

We have a bit of a nature reserve in our garden. I only kill ants and mosquitoes. The bees seem ok with anything that has been put on the plants so far. I wonder if it would be ok to spray for mossies. My wife gets the Panchayat people to come and do our place sometimes.

I wouldn't want to do them any harm, and certainly wouldn't listen to the guys you mention. The hive is well away from, and not easily visible from the road: nobody but us would know it is there.

[prince_pervez]

I have had the previledge to have pure honey probably 2-3 times in my life, where I can actually say that it is pure honey. 2 times in my childhood and once, some one and a half year back in Bangalore. We were visiting a mosque opp Meenaxshi Temple on BG road (college campus) and a local bought honey and portion of the honey comb afresh from a campus well which was dry since ages. The honey was not as thick as branded honey and it was flowing quite comfortable if not fast. We ate it with apples. It was quite different from branded honey. Honey is the best antiseptic as well. Ironically I was bit by a honey bee last weekend and I knew the meaning of excrutiating pain then. It took around 15 hours for the pain to completely subside.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Actually it is a sting, not a bite. I've avoided bee stings, but I've been stung by wasps, a very similar (in UK) but more aggressive insect, and I sympathise with your pain.

[prince_pervez]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Actually it is a sting, not a bite. I've avoided bee stings, but I've been stung by wasps, a very similar (in UK) but more aggressive insect, and I sympathise with your pain.

Drat! How dumb, yeah its a sting. I stand corrected.