Should bulk honey be liquid or crystalized

[Don Ragan]

I've had a customer complain because I sold them crystallized 5 gallon pails of honey. What is the standard practice? I could heat them before shipping but I thought that folks who buy bulk honey would expect that it might be crystallized by this time of year?!? Should I add a surcharge for warming sugared honey?

[brac]

People expect to receive a ready to eat/use product.

[Beeslave]

Pure raw unheated honey is supposed to sugar but all honey consumers don't know that. I wouldn't charge a "fee" for liquifying but would charge a different price for liquid honey versus raw unheated honey. A granulation label on your buckets describing the natural tendacies of honey could maybe save some headaches. Also letting your customers know that it would probally be granulated(when you know it is) would let you know what they expect before you ship it. A old fridge with light bulbs on the bottom(inside) hooked to a thermostat to regulate the heat at 100-120 deg is a cheap way to liquify granulated pails. Put a thin steel/aluminum heat diffuser plate above the bulbs and a rigid rack above that to hold pails.

[RayMarler]

Here in CA there's a label change happening. One of the rules to follow if you are selling it labeled as honey, is that it cannot be treated/processed/heated to decrystalize or prevent crystalization.

[brac]

so what would you have to label it once it's been heated?

[RayMarler]

I was going to post something but.... Never mind, disreguard all I just said, I got all my info wrong. shhhh, I think it's a senior moment!

[Don Ragan]

Thanks all; I have all the warming facilities so I guess I'll just be sure it's liquid before I ship. It's easier than worrying about labeling, two products, etc.

[Michael Bush]

I would have expected it to be crystallized... I guess in the future I'll specify...

[Fuzzy]

Mr. Marler,
From your earlier post "One of the rules to follow if you are selling it labeled as honey, is that it cannot be treated/processed/heated to decrystalize or prevent crystalization."
This is not exactly correct.

From the new CA law "(1) Honey shall not be heated or processed to such an extent that
its essential composition is changed or its quality is impaired."
From this I would infer that honey may be "warmed" but not too hot.

[sqkcrk]

Now that you know that the customer may not want crystallized honey you might want to ask them when the order. I wouldn't want to take the time to liquify any buckets that I didn't need to.