Honey! Honey! Honey!

1. MY HONEY HAS CRYSTALIZED AND TURNED LIGHT COLORED. IS IT BAD?

No. This is a natural phenomenon in raw honey and it is not bad or spoiled. Honey kept in the closed jar never spoils. It is just crystalized. Simply heat up some water (or hot tap water will work) and put your jar of honey in it. Be careful not to submerge the honey, just put enough water to meet the honey line inside the jar. Let it sit for 10-15 minutes and your honey will be liquid again.

2. MY HONEY HAS BITS OF WHITE STUFF IN IT. WHATS IS IT?

This is bits of wax from the capping. Bees cap off the honey inside the hive to store it. We have to remove the caps to be able to extract the honey. Little bits of wax will go through the strainer (large ones won't) into the jar. This is the most natural, raw and tasty way of eating honey. Lots of people actually prefer more bits of wax as it gives texture to the honey.

3. WHAT IS TENNESSEE WILDFLOWER HONEY?

Simply put, it's honey from Tennessee native and imported flowers, trees, bushes and plants. The honey generally contains nectar and/or pollen from white clover, red clover, dandelion, grass, peach tree, apple tree, pear tree, sourwood tree, kudzu, privet, tomato, pepper, magnolia, watermellon and other wild flowers, trees and bushs. Varied sources add to the very unique flavor and health benefits from our honey.

4. ARE ANY PESTICIDES OR CHEMICALS USED?

Absolutely none. We do not use any pesticides, chemicals, medicines or processed syrups. However, it should be noted that we can not control all factors (neighbors, pollution, etc.) or surroundings the bees forage in. They travel up to 5 miles or more from the hives (thats one direction) for nectar, water and pollen.

5. WHY IS ONE JAR OF HONEY LIGHTER THAN THE OTHER?

This is because of varying nectar and pollen sources. Some plants produce darker honey while others produce very light honey. As an example, clover honey makes for a fairly light honey, however, kudzu makes for purple colored honey. The varying colors are mixed throughout the hives and frames, and so jars will vary in depth of tone. Lighter honeys are not as strong but are sweet. Darker honey typially is strong flavored and vary from mild sweetness to very sweet. Overall, our preference here at Hillside Bees is dark honey.

6. WHAT IS GOURMET HONEY?

Gourmet honey is honey that has been "kicked up a notch" with the addition of fruits, herbs, nuts or spices. Our gourmet honey is still raw. All flavors are fused into the honey (or vise versa) through a cold method. That means we let it fuse naturally and over time without heating it. Its very delightful to eat gourmet honey, though it is more expensive because of the time and high quality ingredients.

Honey bees are quickly becoming endangered. We won't be able to eat many foods if honey bees die out because the food will die out as well. There are literally thousands of hives that die each year. Be bee conscience and buy from honey producers that don't medicate or alter their hives for profits. Bees are way too precious to just abuse them.

We practice as many "bee friendly" techniques as possible and are proud to offer such high quality products.