FAQs

What makes honey a great sugar substitute? Aside from having a healthier nutrition profile, honey can be used in virtually any recipe that calls for sugar. Using the tips below, you’ll be able to confidently cast those bags of sugar aside.

MEASURING HONEY

First, let’s start with how to easily measure honey. To get an accurate amount into your recipe, heat a measuring cup by pouring hot water into it. Once it’s heated, pour the water out then add the appropriate amount of honey according to your recipe. By heating it first, you’re allowing the honey to freely flow out of the measuring cup without any left behind. This helps to ensure that you get an accurate measurement.

SUBSTITUTING HONEY

Because honey is naturally sweeter than table sugar you’ll need to adjust your recipes slightly. For up to one cup, honey can be substituted equally for sugar. If the recipe calls for more than one cup of sugar, replace each cup with ¾ cup of honey. Not only is honey sweeter, it also brings more moisture to a recipe. So, for baked goods in particular, if using honey, reduce all other liquids by ¼ cup.

HONEY WEIGHT CONVERSION

Just to confuse us all, honey is sold by weight ounces not fluid ounces, so you’ll always need a little more than you think. Print out this chart to help you get just the right amount of honey in your next recipe.

Download printable pdf of honey weight conversion chart.

We hope this information helps you in your quest to use honey in the kitchen more often. If you have any additional questions while you’re whipping up your next batch of muffins, please reach out to our team.

Our products come in glass or plastic containers. The plastic containers are FDA-compliant and 100% BPA-free.

Barkman Honey’s facilities do not process anything containing peanuts or tree nuts.

Natural enzymes found in raw honey can be easily destroyed when honey is exposed to high temperatures for long periods of time. We put Naked Wild Honey through a limited and gradual warming process. This allows us to liquefy the honey crystals, making it easy to pour while helping to protect its natural enzymes, flavor and aroma. Currently, there is no absolute temperature at which enzymes are destroyed.

Honey does not contain wheat, crustacea, eggs, fish, peanuts, milk, tree nuts, soybeans, monosodium glutamate (MSG), sulfites, lactose or Yellow 5 (tartrazine).

Honey is composed primarily of carbohydrates from sugar and doesn’t contain fat or cholesterol.

Honey is naturally gluten-free. It contains no wheat, barley, rye or oats or their by-products. Barkman Honey’s facilities do not process or store anything containing gluten.

Consuming local honey to reduce allergy symptoms has been classified as a ‘folk remedy’ or ‘urban myth’ and there is no scientific evidence to support it. According to WebMD expert Michael Palumbo, an allergist with Allergy and Clinical Immunology Associates, pollen blowing in the wind (released by non-flowering trees, weeds and grasses) is what generally triggers springtime allergies, not the pollen in flowers carried by bees.

So even though local honey won’t have much, if any, of the type of pollen that sets off allergies, we encourage you to further research the subject and learn more for yourself.

If you’re buying Naked Wild Honey, then you will always know its true origin, which is located on the product label or ink-jetted directly onto the plastic container or lid.

Store honey at room temperature at all times, as it doesn’t need to be refrigerated. If you choose to keep it in the fridge, it will crystallize sooner than if stored at room temperature. Keep out of direct sunlight to prevent premature darkening. Always close the lid securely.

The label located on the bottle of honey indicates the net weight of the product. Currently, honey is measured in weight and not in fluid ounces due to the variable moisture content. Measuring honey by weight is the best way to guarantee product consistency. [link to how-tos] A tip on measuring honey.

Naked Wild Honey is gently warmed (honey crystallizes/hardens quite rapidly) and then strained so that most of the bee parts, wax, comb, propolis, or other foreign suspended materials normally found in honey, have been removed. This way of handling the honey helps retain the natural pollen, enzymes, flavor and aroma of the raw honey and also ensures it meets standards for U.S. Grade A honey.

Organically produced honey is not, by standard, exposed to any GMOs, therefore organic products are, by standard, GMO-free.

Naked Wild Honey is gently warmed to liquefy the crystals and to delay crystallization (solidifying). This warming process is not technically considered pasteurization since honey is naturally bacteria-resistant.

One serving size of honey is one tablespoon (21g). One serving is 60 calories.

Naked Wild Honey is 100% honey, as made by honeybees from the flower nectar they gather. There are no added ingredients.

Filtered honey is clear, and most times, shiny honey that has been filtered to the extent that all or most of the fine particles, pollen grains, air bubbles and other matter normally found in raw honey, have been removed.

Honey is a sweet, viscous (thick) substance produced by bees from the nectar of flowers. After bees remove much of the nectar’s water and add enzymes, it develops the honey characteristics you’re familiar with.

There are two important criteria for determining the authenticity of organic honey:

1) The honeybees that produce the honey cannot be exposed to antibiotics or any other chemical/medicinal treatments.

2) The vegetation in the area from which the honeybees collect the nectar cannot be exposed to chemical treatments including formulated fertilizers, growth stimulants or pesticide treatments.

Raw honey generally can be defined as honey, as it exists in the beehive or as obtained by extraction, settling or straining. The commercial definition of raw honey is defined as honey obtained by minimal processing.

Strained honey is honey that has been strained to the extent that most of the larger particles, including comb, propolis and other debris normally found in honey, has been removed. Grains of pollen, small air bubbles and very fine particles aren’t normally removed in this process and can be visible to the naked eye.

Chemically, honey is composed of 38.5% fructose, 31.0% glucose, 17.1% water, 7.2% maltose, 4.2% trisaccharides, 1.5% sucrose, and 0.5% is made up of minerals, vitamins and enzymes. The majority of honey is composed of carbohydrates.

Over time, all honey darkens, which doesn’t mean there is something wrong with it. Honey color is subject to change more quickly when it is stored at higher temperatures. One thing to note — the flavor of your honey will become stronger as its color darkens.

While honey will not typically spoil due to a variety of natural properties, over time changes in the color, flavor and aroma of honey may occur, in addition to crystallization.

What you’re looking at is ‘honey foam,’ which is a result of the tiny air bubbles in the honey escaping to the top. This is due to air bubbles trapped in the honey during processing and packaging. When the packaged honey rests, the air bubbles work their way up to the top of the container, creating the foam. There is nothing wrong with the honey or the foam.

There is a risk of infant botulism, a very serious disease affecting the nervous system, when honey is consumed before age 1. Honey and other raw agricultural products may contain bacterial spores from Clostridium botulinum. These spores are widely distributed in nature. They can be found in soil, dust, the air or raw agricultural products. After ingestion, C. botulinum spores can germinate, grow and produce toxin in the lower bowel of some infants less than 1 year of age. The reason this happens is because infants’ intestinal microflora is still underdeveloped. Children and adults with normal intestinal microflora are able to ingest C. botulinum spores without harm.

The National Honey Board, along with other health organizations, recommends that honey not be fed to infants less a year old. Although our honey undergoes extensive safety and quality testing, it does not test for the spores that cause infant botulism.

Please don’t heat your plastic honey bottles in the microwave. There are two reasons for this: plastic will melt causing the honey to become inedible; and the possibility of a burn injury.

In the United States, honey demand far exceeds supply, which makes it challenging to produce solely domestic honey.

Higher moisture honey is less viscous than lower moisture honey. Natural honey moisture ranges considerably based on environmental conditions, such as amount of rain in the area where the bees made the honey. Thus, the consistency may slightly vary from bottle to bottle.

In its natural state, all honey will eventually crystallize. It will do so more quickly if exposed to lower temperatures. Though honey is just as sweet and delicious in its crystallized form, you can easily liquefy it to make it easier to pour. To liquefy your honey simply place the container in warm water and gently heat the honey until the crystals dissolve. Never microwave the plastic bottles in which the honey is packaged, as they will melt, making the honey inedible. You can also accidentally burn yourself when handling hot plastic.