James,
Any honey you are purchasing at Costco, Sam’s Club, et cetera is undoubtedly imported from China or South America. We all know about the recalls for Chinese food products that are tainted. South America isn’t any better as they still allow toxic chemicals to be used in their agriculture that have been long banned in the US. I sure wouldn’t want to be storing this honey. Find a local beekeeper and buy your honey [there]. We are small beekeepers in that we have only 10 colonies but probably get more production as we actually take care of our colonies unlike many “bee havers”. [There is] no commercial farming anywhere nearby. Honey prices are going to escalate. Package bees/queens/supplies are higher and higher each year, fewer people interested in beekeeping and many of the big producers have had problems with colony collapse disorder [CCD [1]]. In our humble opinion, [CCD is] the result of too much manipulation of the bees from their natural state. Just like any business we can’t keep absorbing the cost of supplies. If the label doesn’t say “Pure Honey” you could be buying honey mixed with corn syrup. Yuck. Real honey will keep forever.Any health store could probably point you towards a local beekeeper. But don’t expect to buy the real thing at Costco prices. – D. Smith
JWR Replies: I have read that the honey sold at some Costco stores is pure, and domestically produced. For example, Costco sells some from Dutch Gold Honey, which is produced in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.