The Best Raw Honey Brands That Actually Are.
Written by Ajay Chohan, Founder
You know, finding completely raw + unfiltered + pristine single source floral honey is not the easiest task. Why do the biggest store honey brands, engaged in their misleading advertising and false claims, make it so hard? Try doing various honey searches on Google and results will be dominated by certain brands like Nature Nate’s. I mean, they really dominate these honey searches. Sadly, as I have covered in my article here, their honey is NOT raw and even has possible syrup additives. The “best raw honey” articles online aren’t any less misleading. Anyways, let’s get to the good stuff.
untouched biodiverse landscapes produce the best honey
To find authentic and completely raw + unfiltered honey, we have to dig a little deeper and find small producers with integrity. Producers who are in touch with the bees and their buzzing landscapes. Beekeepers who are not in a hurry. These smaller companies will often be on the 2nd, 3rd…or 7th page of search results. What you will find is small batch beekeepers doing things the right way and making the most healthfully raw honey. Here is my qualification criteria for the best raw honey brands followed by recommendations. Let’s commence:
Selection Criteria for the Best Raw Honey Brands:
Transparency + Integrity in Messaging:
The company should openly share relevant information about itself. Who is the founder? How did they get into beekeeping? What are their views on what makes a healthy and sustainable relationship between the bees, environment and the honey? Where are their beekeeping operations? These are all aspects I research about a company before even diving into the honey
Conscientious Beekeeping in Rich Biodiverse Ecosystems:
Tying in with the above, healthy bees collecting nectar from vibrant diverse ecosystems make for the healthiest honey. I look for honey producers who follow these practices:
Bees do not pollinate commercial crops. Instead, the bees collect nectar and pollen from wild floral landscapes — where the flowers are abundant and pesticides none
Healthy Bees: The bees should not be transported long distances which often ties in with them pollinating commercial crops. Bees should be rested during appropriate times
Unprocessed Honey — i.e. not ruining nature’s gift:
After we know that the bees buzz around in healthy biodiverse ecosystems, the next part is ensuring the raw honey goodness is not ruined by:
Heating — companies often heat to fasten the bottling process
Filtration — shady companies filter honey to various degrees depending on the objective. Ultra-filtration is a high heat + pressure technique which removes all pollen and is helpful in hiding both the origin of the honey and any additives. Such overly processed honey is no longer healthy
The honey selected below is completely raw + unfiltered with all the pollen, propolis, enzymes intact! The small companies here use slow handling techniques to pack the honey from the hive to your jar
Ok, onto the recommendations. Note that the companies below are in no particular order. Enjoy!
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#1
Big Island Bees: raw honey straight from Hawaiian hives
The only honey found in Big Island Bees’ jars is the one they hand poured from their own hives. Big Island Bees is a family run operation all about conscious beekeeping and understanding the sensitive relationship between bees & their environment. Based in Hawaii, all of their honey is completely raw, unfiltered and organic. Their honey thus has all the pollen, enzymes (+ taste!) of raw honey that’s s l o w p a c k e d straight from the hive to your jar.
Big Island Bees offers daily beekeeping tours where you can explore their hives
Their most famous honey, the Ohi'a Lehua Blossom, comes from lehua blossoms solely found in the remote Hawaiian forests of Mauna Loa. Other single floral raw honey goodness from the company includes the Wilelaiki Blossom and the Macadamia Nut Blossom — all with uniquely intense flavors depending on the flower type the bees sourced the honey from. Big Island Bees produces amazingly healthful raw honey with beekeeping practices the way they should be!
#2
Really Raw Honey: unprocessed honey with a naturally complex wildflower flavor
Really Raw Honey is completely unprocessed honey full of pollen, propolis, live enzymes and even some honeycomb. Their honey is never heated and never filtered. Mindful of both the health of bees and quality of the buzzing landscape; the company’s beekeepers ensure the bees rest in winter and never pollinate commercial crops.
There is a sense of community amongst the beekeepers of Really Raw Honey, most of whom are in upstate New York, on sharing the wisdom on conscientious beekeeping. This includes the use of ‘low-tech hand packing techniques’ to slowly pack the honey straight from the hive to your jar.
Buy Really Raw Honey for your health…come back for the taste...or the other way around?
#3
Oneroot Honey: raw wildflower honey from Canada’s pristine northern wilderness
Oneroot’s honey comes from Alberta’s northern wilds of the boreal forest and all the wildflowers that bless that landscape. Their honey is single source and multifloral — meaning it all comes from the Canadian boreal forest but from multiple flowers. Oneroot’s honey is sourced well away from conventional farmlands and their bees are never fed antibiotics — which is backed by the lab tested zero traces of pesticides or antibiotics in their raw honey.
the pristine landscape for Oneroot’s honeybees
Their honey is 100% traceable, meaning Oneroot can tell which area + flowers a specific batch of honey came from. BTW — it would be cool if they start mentioning this info on each jar of their honey! I think this is the next step of total transparency we should demand, i.e. if Cindy the consumer wants to PULL UP at the specific area a honey producer keeps their beehives, she should be able to LOL. Anyways, sorry for the tangent there.
Oneroot honey is deliciously creamy yet light tasting. A raw superfood honey from clean floral landscapes full of life giving nutrients, enzymes and amino acids. Thanks Canada.
#4
Eisele’s Honey: raw honey goodness from Midwestern hives
Eisele's Honey is raw goodness which retains all the pollen, phytonutrients, enzymes and amino acids that exist in honey whilst in the hive.
Eisele's raw honey is mildly sweet with a creamy texture. The extractor you see on their logo is a simple piece of equipment which spins the honey out of the honeycomb without using any heat. The honey is patiently and gently stirred for consistency; then hand poured into jars. Their raw honey is never heated (their ‘pure honey’ varietal is — so make sure to get the raw one). And all their honey is never filtered or even strained.
Eisele's Honey is single source and monofloral — the jar you buy might have notes of clover, alfalfa, star thistle etc. And each year’s harvest will have a distinct taste and texture. The founder Tom Eisele is a man of integrity and his company makes one of the best + nutrient dense raw honey you can find!
#5
Rango Honey: unique Sonoran Desert raw honey
Rango Honey is harvested from hives in the unforgiving Sonoran Desert in Arizona — a distinct and harsh ecosystem which is highly biodiverse with over 2,000 native species of flora!
Rango’s 100% raw and unfiltered honey won ‘best honey’ at Arizona State Fair in 2017. Varieties of their uniquely Arizonan raw honey include Desert Bloom from the delicate blooms of cacti + wildflowers, the rich smoky Mesquite and Orange Blossom from remote orange tree groves in Southwest US.
I mean, where else will you find such unique raw honey goodness from the nectar of Arizona’s wildly growing desert flowers? Compare that to beekeeping by the giant honey brands where bees are endlessly transported for thousands of miles from one commercial farm to the next - pesticides included for free.
Outside of honey, a core part of Rango’s culture is fostering inclusivity and respect for everyone, so they run a job training program for students with special needs. I think the company’s doing a sweet job all around!
Note: Rango’s 24oz size honey comes in glass jars while the 12oz is in a plastic squeeze bottle. I recommend getting the 24oz glass jar as this is raw honey which can naturally solidify + crystallize. There are (undeserved) negative reviews on Amazon who ordered the 12oz not realizing that that size doesn’t come in glass jars.
There you have it. Beekeepers with integrity producing raw honey with all its health benefits intact from distinct biodiverse ecosystems. No more excuses to ever consume questionable honey! Do consider sharing if — and only if — this is the best article on pristine raw honey producers you have ever read =)