Best Types of Raw Honey (ranked clean to contaminated)

The best types of raw honey, ranked cleanest to most contaminated, based on the pollution potential of the blooms supplying the nectar to the bees.

As a novice beekeeper, I’ve become very interested in knowing exactly where my bees are getting the nectar that they make into the raw honey I harvest for our family and friends.

Obviously, if the plants the bees are foraging nectar from are sprayed or otherwise growing in polluted areas, the raw honey will consequently be less than ideal or even contaminated!

This is one big reason why it is very important to know your beekeeper personally so that you know the exact location of his/her hives and whether that area is clean enough to consume honey from!

It’s also possible the bees could be foraging nectar from flowers of GMO plants such as canola, which has bright yellow flowers that bees are very attracted to.

Organic raw honey is a fantastic option if you can find a local source for it.

For raw honey to be certified organic, the USDA requires the apiary to be located in areas where nectar and pollen sources within a 3-mile (4.8 km) radius are predominantly organic or wild and free from prohibited substances (e.g., synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or GMOs).

This doesn’t mean every crop or plant must be certified organic within that radius, but the area must be sufficiently isolated from conventional agriculture to avoid contamination.

Since honeybees can forage as much as 5-7 miles from their hive, these organic standards aren’t perfect and only demand unsprayed flowers, crops and vegetation within the typical 1-3 mile honeybee foraging range.

Thus, the potential for bees to fly more than twice that distance is still a possibility.

Types of Raw Honey Ranked Best to Worst

Now that we’ve discussed how raw honey can be contaminated if there are pesticides/herbicides/GMOs within a 5-7 mile radius of the apiary, I will list the various types of raw honey that you may encounter at the farmer’s market or locally owned healthfood stores.

These “clean or contaminated” rankings would include creamed honey as well as liquid honey.

Hint: if a particular type of raw honey does not list the type on the label and you cannot ask the beekeeper directly about the whereabouts of the apiary to confirm pollution-free zones, I would suggest avoiding it to be on the safe side.

Cleanest

Below are the types of raw honey that have the least potential for chemical residues.

Manuka

Raw manuka honey (Leptospermum scoparium) is at the top of the list for the cleanest type of honey you can buy. Found in Australia and New Zealand, these native bushes primarily grow in remote areas with very low possibility for contamination.

That said, manuka honey is very strong-tasting and best for medicinal use rather than topping a bowl of oatmeal or mixed into yogurt.

This type of honey is also not local for the majority of the planet, so utilizing manuka as a natural antibiotic is how I use it in our home.

Tupelo

Tupelo honey comes from the nectar of the tupelo gum tree (Nyssa ogeche).

These native trees grow in the pristine, unsprayed swamps of Florida and Georgia.

The isolated wetlands that are home to tupelo gum trees have short bloom yields, which works to further favor their high status as the cleanest raw honey in the United States.

For this reason, tupelo honey is often able to be certified organic.

Thus, next to the honey produced by my own beehives, tupelo is my preferred honey to buy locally as I live in Central Florida.

Acacia

Blooms from the acacia tree (Robinia pseudoacacia) provide the plentiful nectar for honeybees to make acacia honey.

These trees primarily grow in untouched forests that would be exposed to little to no chemical spraying.

Sourwood

Sourwood honey comes from wildflowers in remote areas of the Appalachian Mountains with little to no pollution or contaminants.

Sometimes Clean, Sometimes Not

The types of raw honey below can sometimes be clean enough to eat, but often are not.

If you have a source for these types of honey that you enjoy, be sure to check the exact location of the apiary to ensure no polluted areas are within a 5-mile radius.

Linden

The blooms of the linden trees provide the nectar for this type of honey.

These trees are usually found in urban or urban adjacent areas rather than pristine forests or mountains. Thus, linden honey has a higher potential for contamination.

If you live in a rural area, this type of local honey is likely fine.

Orange Blossom

Orange groves provide the amazingly sweet nectar for this type of honey.

Orange blossom honey is my personal favorite type of honey. However, I will only buy it if certified because the conventional orange groves where the apiaries are typically placed are fairly heavily sprayed.

Clover

Like orange blossom, conventional clover honey has the potential for residues given that it normally comes from mixed pastures with farms nearby that likely employ some type of spraying.

If you love the taste of clover honey like I do, look for it from local beekeepers who can attest to its purity.

Dirtiest Types of Raw Honey

The following types of raw honey have a high likelihood of contamination and/or glyphosate residues.

It is best to avoid them unless you obtain it from a beekeeper who can personally attest to its purity.

• Alfalfa honey. Field crop that is likely highly sprayed and/or Roundup Ready alfalfa.
• Sunflower honey. Intensive monoculture with high neonicotinoid detection.
• Buckwheat honey. Dark honey with pesticide residues likely.
• Rapeseed (canola) honey. Very high likelihood that the honey is from GMO blooms.

What About Wildflower?

The honey from my backyard apiary comes from wildflowers in the area. These plants are unsprayed in large open fields within about 1 mile of my home.

Thus, I am quite confident that it is clean.

If you enjoy wildflower honey, it can be clean or contaminated based on the location.

Wildflower honey’s cleanliness hinges on the foraging radius (up to 5-7 miles from the apiary).

Remote wildflower honey ranks high due to pristine sources, while agricultural or urban variants are best avoided due to the likelihood of contaminant exposure.

Below is a short video of a recent harvest of the clean wildflower honey from my backyard apiary. Such a fun hobby, which I highly recommend!

References

(1) USDA Organic Certification

(2) Organochlorine pesticide residues in Uganda’s honey as a bioindicator of environmental contamination and reproductive health implications to consumers

(3) Determination of neonicotinoids and 199 other pesticide residues in honey by liquid and gas chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry