Why is locally produced honey so much more expensive than supermarket honey?

A. When you buy honey, you get what you pay for. Independent beekeepers in Scotland have to work in a very unpredictable climate, which can mean a bumper crop one year, and nothing the next. Scottish honey is produced from a wide range of mostly wild plants and flowers, the honey yield of which also varies from year to year. This produces a honey of remarkably fine quality and unique style, which is highly regarded. Much supermarket honey is imported, and in addition overseas producers are sometimes paid very poorly for their product. It generally also comes from countries which are warmer, have a more consistent climate, and where the quantity and nature of the crop is assured year-on-year. These honeys, often from a single cultivated floral source, are often more mild in flavour, and lack the distinctive quality of good Scottish Honey. Scottish Beekeepers are totally independent, they receive no government help or subsidy, and must maintain the overheads of equipment and stocks of ...  more