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Heating Raw Honey?

Posted By: Kiiru

Heating Raw Honey? - 03/09/08 02:49 PM

I recently found out that if you heat raw honey to a very high temperature, it will kill a good portion of the bacteria and microorganisms in it. (Like Clostridium Botulinum Spores...Botulism)

My dad said that essentially, that's just what our "pasteurized" honey is...heated up honey that you can do at home if you get the temperature right and don't overcook it.

Now, is that true or a bunch of baloney? I know that heating stuff will help kill bacteria because it isn't able to survive a higher temperate, but is that all it takes to make raw honey alright to use?
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Heating Raw Honey? - 03/09/08 04:28 PM

It is true that you need to heat the honey up to a certain temperature to pasteurize.

Once I came across a beekeeper who sold raw honey and he told me I needed to pasteurize the honey before consuming. I can't remember what temperature he told me and for how long.


Jen
Posted By: blockamon

Re: Heating Raw Honey? - 03/09/08 08:13 PM

The standard temperature is 160F for 4 minutes. However, this is still not high enough to kill spores. There is no currently available method to kill spores without destroying the quality of the honey, although there are a few methods in development.
Posted By: Kiiru

Re: Heating Raw Honey? - 03/09/08 08:24 PM

Hmm...so why is Pasteurized Honey safe to use then if there is no way to kill the spores? dunno

That's pretty scary. I'm reading up on botulism now and all the sites say that botulism spores are found widely in soil, dust, and honey.
Posted By: blockamon

Re: Heating Raw Honey? - 03/10/08 02:20 PM

Pasteurization will kill live bacteria, so it helps. However, it is still recommended that infants and the elderly not eat honey, because of the spores. In a healty immune system, it shouldn't be a problem.

Most honey isn't even pasteurized. A mild heat treatment is used to prevent re-crystalization of the honey, but it's all about shelf life.

Store bought honey is probably also filtered. I have no idea what size of filter they use, but if it is small enough it can trap even bacteria. I'm somewhat doubtfull they use such a small size however, since the pressure necessary to force HONEY through it would be enormous.
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