Wendell Estate Honey Now Available at The Fresh Market in the USA

We are happy to announce that Wendell Estate Honey is now on The Fresh Market shelves across Eastern and Midwest USA. Discriminating shoppers can also find our premium honey at Erewhon Natural Market in Los Angeles, and at independent fine foods retailers in New York, California, and Massachusetts.

While most honey on food store shelves passes through many hands (from producer to packer to be mixed, blended, and processed), Wendell Estate Honey is a raw, unheated, unfiltered honey, harvested from a single family-operated honey farm, packaged fresh on the farm, and then shipped directly to retailers of premium and natural foods (via distributors in some cases).

Compared to the Canadian market, the American retail honey market is diverse and highly competitive. We are honoured to be representing premium Canadian retail honey in the USA. We are pleased to see American fine foods retailers willing to offer a premium farm-brand honey to their customers.

Honey from the Canadian prairies is different from the amber liquid honey most American consumers are familiar with. Because most Canadian Northern prairie honey crystallizes (granulates) relatively quickly (days to weeks) into a granular solid under ambient temperatures, Canadian prairie-blossom honey is usually “creamed” to control the crystallization and create smoother, softer, semi-solid honey, similar in consistency to butter. Creamed honey is also referred to as whipped honey or spun honey.

The most common methods of producing creamed honey involve introducing small seed crystals of honey into the liquid honey. Packaging companies often use the Dyce method, which involves heating the honey to pasteurize it. Another method, commonly used by beekeepers, is to introduce the seed honey without heating to produce raw, creamed honey. Granulated honey is occasional ground mechanically to reduce honey crystal size and produce a smoother product. Wendell Estate Honey is neither creamed nor mechanically ground but selected on key properties and packaged fresh directly into the jar without processing or any added ingredients, including seed honey. The result is a soft-set honey with a texture that is even smoother than creamed honeys.

We get a lot of positive feedback on the uniquely smooth texture of our honey. Honey connoisseurs, chefs and foodies tend to appreciate the freshness and delicate flavors of Wendell Estate Honey. Interestingly, we get comments from people who say that they never liked honey, but after trying our honey, they are now hooked on Wendell Estate.

Within the global honey industry, Canadian honey enjoys a reputation for quality and purity, usually fetching some of the highest prices on global bulk honey markets. According to Statistics Canada, Canadian honey exports totalled $47million in 2020, with Japan accounting for $24million and the USA importing $19million. In the USA, white Canadian honey is often blended with other, darker honeys to lighten the colour of the final product. The vast majority of Canadian honey exports is as a bulk commodity. Despite the industry reputation and popularity of Canadian bulk honey, premium raw honey from Canada is extremely rare on American grocery shelves. We are optimistic that Wendell Estate Honey can showcase the best qualities of premium Canadian prairie-blossom honey to foodies and honey aficionados in the United States.