WHAT'S THE BUZZ?

[Mark Joel Lane]

  I was in the organic/natural foods section of a supermarket where I often shop looking for a jar of raw honey. I've seen dozens of brands of other types of honey in the supermarkets, health, and nutrition stores but read about the benefits of raw honey over even some of these healthy natural and organic honeys. Raw honey has not been heated, pasteurized or processed in any way.

 

     Raw honey is known as a functional food. That is to say it has natural food and health benefits such as anti-oxidant , anti-inflammatory properties and supports the digestive system as well as many other health enhancing qualities.

 

    After comparing different brands of raw honey( that cost quite a bit more than most other honeys), I  noticed some big heavy corrugated cardboard cartons on the shelf. Inside I could see a big jar that was dark in color and hard to see the contents. The jar was very big like those industrial size jars of mayonnaise. I held the carton securely with both hands and noticed an unusual clamped rubber cap with tiny holes .

 

     Now looking inside,very closely and intensely, I could see and hear the buzzing of hundreds of honey bees and I saw a honey comb inside the jar. !!!      Is this for real?, I thought to myself.  I could not believe a store could sell live bees from a jar on a supermarket shelf. Was this some sort of Candid Camera gag? That's an old TV show that fooled customers into thinking things they observed were real but was a set up to fool and film them.

 

     I saw a store employee packing out groceries further down the aisle and asked him about the bees. he said these honey bee kits which included directions for making honey inside the carton  were selling like hot cakes. This supermarket only started selling them after Memorial Day. He said the price was $49.99 which I had neglected to notice on the shelf label  and there was an expiration date if I looked carefully on the box, August 31st, 2016.

 

     What could be fresher than raw honey made from bees in your home?  As I wasn't prepared to shell out 50 bucks , I ended up buying a bottle of inexpensive  processed store brand honey and with the money I  saved I also bought  a can of Raid Wasp and Hornet spray instead of opting for a raw deal