About Our Honey

Where does our honey come from and what makes it different from store bought honey?  Our honey is natural, pesticide, and plastic free. The honey is extracted from frames that are plastic free—made of only wood and stainless steel wire. During the extraction and bottling process, our honey is never exposed to temperatures above 100 °F (38 °C), protecting the natural enzymes and anti-oxidants for which the health benefits of honey are so well known. Finally, we bottle all our honey in glass jars with the goal of reducing the introduction of microplastics into our honey.

74% of Honey Consumed in the US comes from Overseas:[i] With honey being the third most
faked food in the world.[ii]  The top three foreign suppliers are Inda, Vietnam and Argentina. A common practice to increase honey yields is to feed bees high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and sugar water.   The bees bring the sugar water or HFCS back to the hive and mix it with the naturally collected nectar, creating an adulterated concoction sold in stores under the label honey.

At Swampland Bees, our honey comes from bees working the undisturbed wild lands of the Apalachicola and Ochlockonee River basins.  This stretch of the North Florida coast is filled with incredible vistas, alligators, cypress forests, tupelo trees and endless miles of wetlands untouched by human development.   For additional information and pictures of this incredible area of the US search Apalachicola National Forest, the national part that boarders many of our apiaries. 

Pesticides in the Honey Supply: Bees are critical to pollination of crops.   Farmers contract with beekeepers to store the hives near fields to increase pollination and thereby increase crop yields.  In fact, the USDA reports that as a group beekeepers make more money from pollination services than from selling honey.[iii]   However, a challenge beekeepers face is these agricultural fields are commonly sprayed with pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, and other synthetic chemicals, which the bees in turn pick up when collecting nectar from the flowers.  These make their way into the brood box, honeycomb, and ultimately the honey.   This honey is eventually harvested, bottled and sold in stores.[iv][v]   The Food and Chemical Toxicology journal recently published a comprehensive report, “Exposure to Pesticide Residues in Honey and its potential Cancer Risk Assessment,” discussing the hazard to human health of these exposures.[vi]

At Swampland Bees, our apiaries are miles away from agricultural fields.  The flowers from which the bees collect nectar are all wild and not part of our food supply.   When collecting honey, the bees are never subjected to synthetic chemicals from their environment or as treatment from the bee keeper.

Health Impacts of Microplastics in the Food Supply:  Microplastics are ubiquitous in modern society.   The negative impact of microplastics in the food supply is a current topic of research.  Among this research a recent paper published in the journal of Molecular Neurobiology has established a link between microplastics and progression of cognitive impairment in Alzheimer’s disease.[vii]   95% of all honey sold is stored in plastic bottles.  At Swampland bees we bottle all of our honey in glass jars with the goal of reducing microplastics in the honey.

Raw Unpasteurized Natural Honey:  At Swampland Bees we make a point never to allow our honey to warm above 40 C (105 F).   This is important because between 45 C (113 F)  to  55 C (131 F) , many of the naturally occurring beneficial enzymes break down.  Commercial honey bottlers heat their honey to 60 C (140 F) to kill all the naturally occurring yeast which effectively breaks most if not all of the other beneficial enzymes.      

An example of one such enzyme is Glucose Oxidase (GOX).  When opening a bottle of raw unpasteurized honey, it is common to find tiny bubbles on the top of the honey.  These bubbles are hydrogen peroxide (H202) generated by this natural enzyme.  Glucose Oxidase is added by the bees to the honey as a preservative and is the enzyme responsible for many of honey’s beneficial antimicrobial properties.[viii]     Glucose Oxidase has an optimal temperature range of 25C (77 F)  to 40 C (105 F), but breaks down above 45 C (113 F).

Healthline.com has a helpful article that discusses the benefits of Raw honey titled “8 Raw Honey Benefits for Health.”   (July 2024)[ix]