Unadulterated, Honey / Royal Jelly

by Michael Haley
(Hanford, California)

A quick overview --- Over the past number of weeks, I've begun in a personal study of the "medicinal effects" (for my own / personal benefit) of honey and royal jelly... seemingly wonderful products (in "fresh" and RAW form) of the honeybee. However, trying to find a product which has not been "corrupted" in one way or another, has been more difficult than I would have earlier suspected. At some other Internet health forums, I've learned of a few disappointed users of honeybee products... that when certain commercial honeybee products were "tested"... some of the reportedly "trustworthy" honey re-sellers are not actually selling the products they imply they are selling. A NUMBER of them... even claiming to have their own hives, are IMPORTING "cheap honey" from China (which when tested by one consumer group - proved to be a "processed / heated / filtered" honey)... virtually worthless, for many medicinal applications. As well... many of the local beekeepers (local to me in California) who I've spoken with... who also claim "medicinal benefits" from their honey (including, such from their own products - IMPLIED) I've learned, have been feeding their bees literal, "processed SUGAR" water in the winter time - rather than returning the honeybee's own product back to them, in order to feed and fortify / nourish the bees. This issue (feeding the bees "sugar water") has been addressed by C. Leigh Broadhurst, Ph.D. and some others medical doctors who were speaking on the subject of using honeybee products medicinally. In a number of documented cases... feeding the bees sugar water significantly reduced the effect of the product... that is, for medicinal consideration. I'm new to this study and so, I 'm not sure how true that concern may be. Yet, nobody else who I've spoken to who uses honey regularly, has even asked the question (about feeding bees "sugar water" rather than feeding them from their own produce from their hives). After being referred to a supposedly "reputable" honeybee hive products re-seller (selling via the Internet)... I've learned (through some other Internet forums, that this particular company (who I won't mention UNTIL I'm SURE of any wrongdoing on their part) has joined other somewhat unscrupulous companies in this business - in bringing forth honey and other hive products (including royal jelly) which have been "corrupted" in it's constituents... and, when actually tested by a reputable laboratory... fell WAY short ("criminally" short, in fact) of the CLAIMED potency for their royal jelly. Some are also importing honey from China and claiming it to be "organic" (yet,it is not certified-organic). I've visited China a number of times over the years and, seeing what I've seen... I don't trust their FOOD products to be "as claimed"... regarding the level of QUALITY they deliver.

My question; is there any company (more than one, hopefully) who produces a product (fresh, raw, honey, royal jelly, bee pollen, etc.) which is trustworthy in their marketing claims (and who may even be willing to produce some lab-certification for their marketing claims)?

Ultimately, I'd like to find local companies to me in the central valley of California, who sell a "trustworthy" product (royal jelly, honey, etc.) at a reasonable price. This way I know it will be "fresh" (rather than being stored for long periods of time, in unknown storage conditions). I certainly don't mind paying MORE money for a QUALITY product. But, I hate being ripped off by people who sell short of their marketing claims... the result being that I could be paying HIGH prices for a product that may even be considered, less-than-healthful.

Hi Michael,
Thank you for your comments. To be honest, I can't vouch for any honey companies in California. We are located in Ontario Canada and I can 100% vouch for Dutchman's Gold as I've literally seen 100 hundred times the extraction process of our own hives and the honey moved to barrel and then into our bottle. I know for certain it is real honey. It also tastes different, much different, than 'honey' that has had sugar added to it or is imported from China. I'd be happy to ship you some of our raw honey, we ship to California almost daily now. I wish I could help you more but I just can't give my word on a honey company that I haven't seen their process from start to finish or tasted their finished product.

Bee healthy,
Angela