free health care in Canada

Jreboll wrote:This beekeeper said if you place the jar of honey in the freezer real honey starts to form one solid clump in the middle but unpure honey will form streaks as different substances will gel at different temperatures.

I think that's right, my honey from Claudia clumps in the center in the cupboard but you can't do any tests until after you buy. . . I wonder about SL honey.

Trailrunner wrote:Maltodextrin is a red flag for celiac as well because it isn't only made with corn but can be made with wheat and they are not mandated to disclose that.

Honey is very difficult to determine the authenticity of, although there are tests, but it's often cut with HFCS too. You can't test it until you buy it. Two places I'm sure of to buy are from Dra. Nina the vet in Joco as she raises bees and from Claudia at Farmacia Xpress in SAT as she knows the person that keeps the bees. Other than that . . .it's a crap shoot and you will probably lose.

I was buying honey from Farmacia Express and went through 2 jars trying to alleviate hay fever by eating a spoonful every day. The 3rd jar I bought looked nothing like the first 2 and was so dark it looked almost like milk chocolate. Didn’t taste like honey either. When I bought it I asked Claudia why it was so dark and she had no idea. I think it was cut with something. She said it came from Jocotepec. I hope she gets the real thing because it seemed to help with the allergies.

It helps to know the honey seller well enough to hear about the beekeeper used. Most of the year Deena sells the real honey at the Monday market along with kefir and organic vegetables. Her table is on the lower level. The honey is delicious.

Interesting.
It does help with allergies. The jar I have is dark but not overly. Might just be what the bees were feeding on and not that the honey was cut? I don't want to think . . .

Thanks, I will buy Deena's honey next!

Oh, I don’t blame Claudia but this last bunch doesn’t taste like honey. I will try the kind at Monday market until Claudia’s looks like it did before.

A hive of bees will produce honey from whichever nectar is available at any given time. Through the course of a year a local hive will forage many different "crops". A single hive can produce several distinct honies depending on the nectar they are foraging. The honey that is produced in the spring may be distinctly different from the honey that is produced in the fall. If you want to buy local honey you will probably see seasonal differences in the character of the honey. This is probably a good thing if you are hoping to knock the edge off of allergies.
NOB the single source honies are generally produced by bees that are trucked all over the country---citrus from the south and clover from the north. The local hives that don't travel produce the catchall "Wildflower Honey". I'm sure there are plenty of exceptions to this.

Good explanation. I first learned about the importance of the honey coming from local sources many years ago when I moved from the big city to rural Sonoma County (before it became "whine country") and I was hit with every allergy available. In my runny nose and eyes state, I talked to the local grocer, who told me about the "local honey" cure. She said it takes about three months, and indeed, she was right on all counts.
Same thing here.

I tried to send this via PM to some of the people who drifted away from the main topic but I ran into a problem. So, here it is under Free Canadian Healthcare. Sorry.

I thought that some of you might find this interesting. This links to today's episode of The Splendid Table on NPR radio.

https://www.splendidtable.org/episode/665

Episode 665: How Bees Made What We Eat
August 24, 2018
This week is all about bees. We talk to Thor Hanson, author of Buzz: The Nature and Necessity of Bees, about the importance of bees to our food supply, as well as their connection to the evolution of plants and humans. Francis Lam gets the story of Brooklyn’s red bees and other urban tales of beekeeping from Andrew Coté. Bridget Lancaster, host of America’s Test Kitchen, has flavorful tips for cooking with honey. And bee researcher Bernardo Niño discusses what makes a healthy bee colony and takes us inside the mysterious of colony collapse disorder. Francis also talks with listeners about using and preserving habanero peppers, and why cocoa powder is often included in Sicilian caponata recipes.

I bought some wonderful honey from Ixtlahuacan at this new shop in the mall across from Walmart. The store is sort of toward the back closer to the theater and is run by a couple of nice young Mexicans. Interesting place with herbal extracts, bee pollen & lots of other natural remedies and the honey is wonderful and cheaper than what Claudia was selling. I hope they can make a go of it.

Do you mean the "health food" store? I like that store and pick things up there so they stay in business
I will try the honey! Thanks. Claudia has honey again; it's very dark. Looks like molasses!

Try propolis.

What’s propolis?