Honey is one of the few foods where the label tells you almost nothing and the jar tells you almost everything. Here is how to buy real local honey in Beaver County and what to look for.
What raw honey means
Raw honey has not been heated past hive temperature or filtered so finely that the pollen is stripped out. It still contains trace pollen, enzymes, and the aromatic compounds that make honey from one place taste different from honey from another.
What most supermarket honey is
Much of the honey in a grocery aisle is blended from multiple countries, heated for easy bottling, and ultra filtered so it stays clear on a shelf for years. It is still honey. It is just anonymous honey with the character processed out.
How to spot the real thing
What our bees forage in western PA
Our hives work the bloom sequence you would expect around Conway: maple and dandelion early, then black locust, clover, and wildflower through the summer, and goldenrod into the fall. That sequence gives our honey a character you will not find in a national blend.
Storing honey
Keep it in a cupboard, not the refrigerator. Cold speeds crystallization. Honey does not spoil. If it crystallizes, warm it slowly in a water bath rather than the microwave, which can scorch the flavor.
What not to do
Do not give honey to infants under one year old. That is a hard rule regardless of the source.
Buying from us
Our honey is produced by our own hives here on the farm and sold in limited quantity, since a small apiary produces what it produces. Availability is listed on the honey page, and the Creek List gets a text when a harvest is jarred.
