FAQ

What is Glyphosate and why do we hire independent labs to test our honey for it?

Glyphosate is the most widely-used herbicide in the world, marketed by Monsanto under the trade name Roundup. Included in the Roundup line of products are genetically modified seeds that allow farmers to kill all surrounding weeds, but not kill the genetically modified crop seeds.

In August of 2018, a groundskeeper who has non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma was awarded $289 million in damages after a CA jury found that Monsanto had failed to adequately warn consumers of cancer risks posed by the herbicide. There are currently some 8000 lawsuits filed by cancer victims and glyphosate users against Monsanto.

Recently, tests commissioned by the Environmental Working Group found glyphosate in every sample of popular oat-based cereal and other oat-based food marketed to children. Other tests, conducted over the past 30 years, have found the glyphosate levels in American’s urine exponentially increasing along with the use of Roundup.

Aside from the fact that glyphosate—as a neonicotinoid—continues to cause colony collapse disorder among the honeybees, it stands as a symbol as to how we’ve bypassed nature to the detriment of it, and all of our survival.

Our bees forage far from civilization and agriculture, and we independently test all our honeys for the presence of glyphosate, to make sure we are not spreading what we see, as a ubiquitous health risk.

We need a Plan Bee.

Will my Plan Bee Greek honey “crystallize?”

Raw honey will never spoil. But all raw, real honey will eventually crystallize, which is the natural process of the glucose separating from the water in the honey. Crystallization affects only the texture of the honey, not it’s flavor. In fact, crystallization preserves the quality and flavor of your honey.

That said, the unusually even balance of glucose and fructose in our honey, and the unusually low water content (14% v. a typical honey’s 20%) cause our honey to crystallize much slower than many other raw honeys. We’ve had Fir and Oak honeys sit for 2 years before even a small bit of crystallization begins.

And if you prefer a less viscous honey, you can always slowly re-heat your honey, but not above the temperature that the bees would store it: 110°F. Loosen the lid and lower the jar into 110° water and let it sit for a couple hours. Remember, heating above 110°F can destroy the enzymes, antioxidants, and polyphenols that make Plan Bee so special to begin with.

Why is your honey so expensive?

On the contrary, why is your typical honey so inexpensive? We don’t feed the bees sugar syrup during nectar flows which can artificially increase honey amounts and produce an inferior tasting honey. We don’t blend large amounts of inferior honey with small amounts of superior honey to increase profits. We don’t cut our honey with high fructose corn syrups to bump outputs by a factor of 10 or rice syrups that include masking agents to prevent detection when tested for impurities.

We carefully and painstakingly transport our hives to forests and fields multiple times a year where the bees might or might not bring in enough essence to produce enough Fir, Pine, Heather, Oak, Thyme, or Arbuttus honeys for us to extract. The periods when this might happen are short and intense. A week of rain at the wrong time could mean no honey.

Not unlike coffee, wine, olive oil, or chocolate, one can take the honey budget route, not know where or who produced your product, whether or not they were compensated fairly, settle for poor to mediocre flavor, with no knowledge of potentially toxic chemicals it may contain, and what additives or processes were used in its production.

Or you can pay a bit more and get a profoundly unique and delicious product that has honored what nature intended every step of its journey.  It has been independently certified, inspiring the confidence one should have when ingesting one of nature’s healthiest foods. You shouldn’t have to be concerned about whether you’re feeding your child honey that contains weed killer. And with Plan Bee, you won’t.