Honey looks innocent.
Golden. Viscous. Marketed with rolling fields and smiling bees. But internationally, honey has quietly become one of the most investigated and adulterated food products in global trade.
In 2023, the European Commission released results from its coordinated “From the Hives” testing program. Nearly half of imported honey samples tested were flagged as suspicious for adulteration. That is not a fringe blog claim. That is an EU-level laboratory screening result.
In the United States, federal investigations over the past decade have uncovered “honey laundering” schemes — where honey of one origin was re-labelled through intermediary countries to avoid tariffs and scrutiny. Anti-dumping duties were introduced precisely because of systematic underpricing and origin manipulation.
Laboratories have also documented the use of rice syrup and other plant-derived syrups engineered to evade traditional C4 sugar detection tests. Modern adulteration is no longer crude. It is chemically designed to pass older testing methods.
This does not mean every imported jar is fake. It means the honey market is no longer simple.
Ultra-filtration removes pollen, the very fingerprint that tells you where nectar came from. Blending across multiple countries smooths flavour variation. Standardisation creates a product that looks clean, clear and uniform year-round.
But honey is not meant to be uniform.
Real honey:
• Crystallises, • Varies in colour.
• Changes season to season • Carries pollen from its region.
• Reflects the landscape it came from.
If every jar tastes the same in January and July, something has likely been engineered for consistency.
And here’s where the story gets deeper. Honey does not begin in the hive. It begins in the soil.
Floral diversity depends on microbial diversity. Nectar chemistry is influenced by mineral uptake. Mineral uptake depends on biological function in the ground.
Healthy soil → healthy plants → complex nectar → resilient bees → real honey
When soil biology collapses, floral resilience declines. When flora weakens, nectar quality shifts. When nectar declines, hive stress increases.
Bees are not sentimental. They are responsive. They forage where vitality exists.
At the Holmstead, when soil systems are biologically active and flowering is strong, hive stores surge. This season, our hives have been full - so full that we have excess raw honey available in the Earthfood Pantry.
That is not branding language.
That is ecological sequence.
If you want to understand honey quality, look at the ground beneath the flowers.
HOW HONEY IS TESTED FOR ADULTERATION
Modern labs use multiple methods:
Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS) Detects certain plant sugar signatures, especially C4 sugars like corn syrup. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Profiling Creates a molecular fingerprint to compare against authentic regional databases.
Pollen Analysis (Melissopalynology)
Identifies floral origin unless the honey has been ultra-filtered to remove pollen.
Advanced Rice Syrup Detection
More recent techniques attempt to identify C3 plant syrups, which were designed specifically to evade older detection systems.
The point is awareness.
When honey is transparent and traceable, you are buying more than sweetness. You are buying a landscape.
This month, Earthfood Pantry features raw, Australian hive honey from biologically active land.
Know your beekeeper. HAHA ME!!!!
Know your soil. The Urban Holmstead!!
Know your jar. Urban Holmstead Backyard Honey !!!
Because not all honey is the same.
Healthy soil builds strong flora. Strong flora feeds resilient hives. Resilient hives produce real honey. If you care about what’s in your jar, start with what’s in the ground.
Bronwyn Holm, Founder, Earthfood® Farmers' Friend • Gardeners' Guide • Soil Advocate • Growers’ Voice
Bronwyn Holm works alongside farmers, gardeners, land stewards and balcony pot legends to restore living soil through biology, not chemistry.
Earthfood® was built to return microbial intelligence to the ground quietly, effectively, and without dependence on industrial inputs.
© Bronwyn Holm 2026 Earthfood® • Earthfood Pantry™ • Earthfood Conversations™
All trademarks and intellectual property protected. All Rights Reserved.
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Earthfood® is 100% certified Organic: USDA Certified. I OMRI Listed I Southern Cross (AU) Certified. I Australia Organics Certified I Eco-Cert (EU) I Organic Trade Association Approved I Carbon8 and Regener8 Standards I International Vegan Association Approved. I International Harmony Code.