CSI: Pollen Detective - Gardenista
In his Texas laboratory, Prof. Vaughn Bryant recently analyzed 60 samples of supermarket honey—from jars, jugs, and plastic bears—and came to a disturbing conclusion: Most of it isn’t honey at all. Prof. Bryant, a professor at Texas A&M University who also happens to be one of the world’s best respected melissopalynologists (that’s a pollen investigator, to us) discovered that all the pollen has been filtered out of most grocery store brands. After honey laundering—which may involve heating, watering down, and then applying high pressure to the honey to remove even the most extremely small particles—the pollen-less result may no longer meet the FDA’s definition of honey. Photography courtesy of Mimi Gibion and Jay B.. Sauceda Prof. Bryant, who directs the university’s Palynology Research Laboratory, also can tell if a jar of honey labeled “local” truly is; under a microscope, each flower has a uniquely shaped pollen grain. Photograph by Jay B Sauceda. Photograph by Mimi Giboin. Filtering increases shelf life, but can rob the honey of flavor. Most honeybees in the US and Europe belong to the species Apis mellifera, but there are eight other species in Asia. Photograph by Mimi Giboin. Prof. Bryant’s collection of pollen samples. Photograph by Jay B Sauceda. For more about how to encourage local honey production, see “For the Bees: Gardens with Pollinating Plants.” To make an accurate pollen identification, Prof. Bryant relies on his large collection of reference slides. Photograph by Jay B Sauceda.