The Truth About Cheap Honey: Why Local Matters More Than Ever
Honey has always been one of nature’s purest foods. But in recent years, what you’ll find lining supermarket shelves doesn’t always resemble the honey that bees — or beekeepers — intended.
If you’ve ever wondered how some big-brand honeys can be so cheap, so uniform in taste, and so widely available, the answer lies in how they are produced, processed, and in many cases… diluted.
What makes supermarket honey different from local, raw honey and why it matters.
What Happens to Most Commercial Honey?
1. It’s Often Blended From Multiple Countries
Many supermarket honeys are blended from honey sourced overseas, where regulations and beekeeping conditions vary widely. The original character of the honey — the flowers it came from, the landscape it grew in — gets lost in the mix.
2. It’s Frequently Superheated and Ultrafiltered
To stay “perfectly clear” and never crystallise, commercial honey is heated at high temperatures and filtered to remove pollen.
But pollen is what tells you:
Where the honey came from
What the bees were eating
If the honey is truly real and unadulterated
When you remove the pollen and gentle enzymes, you remove the honey’s natural goodness.
3. Some Cheap Honeys Are Diluted or Adulterated
There have been international investigations revealing that some ultra-cheap honey has been bulked out with:
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Rice syrup
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Corn syrup
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Sugar syrup
This is honey in name only — not in nature.
So What’s Lost in the Process?
When honey is heavily processed, heated or blended, it loses:
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Natural enzymes that support digestion
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Floral trace compounds unique to the landscape
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Antioxidants found in raw honey
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Local pollen which supports immune recognition
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Variety of taste (real honey tastes different every season!)
And perhaps most importantly…
It loses connection to place.
Why Local, Small Batch Honey Is Different
When you choose honey from beekeepers like us at Bello Honey, you’re buying honey that is:
✔ Raw and cold extracted
✔ Single-region, often single-site
✔ Seasonal — reflecting the flowers in bloom
✔ Full of natural enzymes and pollen
✔ Harvested with care by hand and not industrial efficiency
Our honey is extracted gently, strained (not filtered), and bottled right here in Bellingen. No blending, no heating, no shortcuts.
Every batch has its own story:
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The tea tree bloom after rain
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The paperbark run along the river
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The bloodwood flowering high in the ridges
Your tastebuds can actually tell the difference.
Why It Matters to Support Local Beekeeping
Choosing local honey does more than nourish your family:
It helps keep bees on the landscape, not just in industrial farms
It supports pollination for local growers and backyard gardens
It encourages healthy biodiversity across the valley
And it keeps small-scale, ethical beekeeping alive
When you buy honey from a supermarket, your money travels far away.
When you buy honey from your community, your support stays here — where the bees are.
The Real Sweetness Is in the Connection
Honey should be something that tastes like home — something that changes with the seasons, something that reflects the land it came from.
Thank you for choosing to support local beekeepers.
Thank you for believing in real honey.
Thank you for caring for the bees, the flowers, and the Gumbaynggirr land we all call home.
— Bello Honey
Local Bees. Local Blooms. Local Care. 🐝💛