Raw and Unfiltered
Raw means unheated. Unfiltered means unstripped. Most honey on a shelf is neither, and the label rarely says so.
Raw
Raw honey has not been pasteurised. Commercial honey is commonly heated to delay crystallisation and make it easier to bottle and pump. Heat above roughly 40 C begins to degrade enzymes and drive off the volatile aromatics that carry flavour.
Pasteurisation does not make honey safer in any meaningful sense — honey does not spoil. It makes it more convenient to process and it lengthens the window before it sets.
Unfiltered
Unfiltered honey has been strained to remove wax and debris, but not ultra-filtered. Ultra-filtration forces honey through fine filters under pressure and heat, removing pollen along with everything else.
Without pollen, the honey cannot be traced to a floral source or a region. Filtering is what makes honey anonymous.
Crystallisation
Raw honey crystallises. This is the most common reason people think honey has gone bad, and it is the opposite — it is evidence the honey was not processed to prevent it.
To reverse it, stand the jar in warm water. Not hot, not the microwave. If you undo crystallisation with heat you undo the raw part too.
How to tell
- It crystallises over time
- It is slightly cloudy rather than optically clear
- The label names a floral source and a region
- It tastes of something specific, with a finish
Perfectly clear honey that never sets has been heated and filtered, whatever the front of the jar says.