I noticed today my jar of honey has a little Kosher symbol on it.
What would make my honey kosher?
I know bees aren’t kosher, but all honey has at some point been in contact with bees- and as honey can be kosher, presumably contact with bees isn’t what would make it treyf.
I can’t see pork products, shellfish or cheeseburgers being involved in the honey production and bottling process.
Is the honey kosher simply because you won’t accidentally eat a bit of bee, or is there more to it than that?
Honey is naturally kosher - I mean, we wouldn’t be promised a land of milk and honey if honey were treif, right? - but they still have to inspect it to make sure the factory isn’t thickening it with lard or something. It’s a pro forma thing.
I’ve seen a few references that the word translated as “honey” in the KJV bible might not necessarily mean specifically bee honey, but a “honey” derived from figs or dates. Doesn’t change the answers to the OP, but just thought I’d throw that out.
I’d like to see a link to those referances. Never heard of any historical “sugar” derived from plants being called honey in any context before; unlike the fake honey scams that are going around now.
For food to carry a kosher label, it is not enough for it to be prepared using acceptable ingredients and methods but also must be overseen by one of the certifying organizations. Specifically for honey I’m not sure what would cause it to not be kosher.
This sounds like the “Jesus was a vegan” idea. “Lamb” was really “lamb’s plant” and fish was seaweed. Since vegans don’t believe in eating honey, they have to make “honey” mean something they would eat.
If the facts don’t support the theory, the facts must be changed.
The Talmud’s answer as to why honey is kosher and bees aren’t is that bees don’t make honey. Flowers make honey. Bees just take the honey from the flowers back to the hive, or as it puts it, "Why did they say that bee-honey is permitted? Because even though they bring it into their bodies, it is not a product of their bodies "
Except that of course it is a product of their bodies. Honey isn’t nectar, it’s nectar mixed with enzymes and the product that results from that enzymatic digestion.
Honey needs Kosher certification to make sure that
a) no non-kosher ingredients were added in processing (e.g., as preservatives or the like)
b) the machinery handling the honey has not been used for non-kosher items that would leave traces behind
c) workers are not bringing non-kosher food into the plant where it could come in contact with the product
and possibly other reasons.
Annie-XMas, no reason to be so skeptical about the date honey thing - that is in fact the traditional Jewish interpretation of honey in the Bible, by Biblical commentators who were hardly vegans (e.g., Rashi).
I’m not sure what you mean. Nobody thinks the writers of the Talmud were divine. Regardless, what they wrote is still considered binding among religious Jews – sort of like the Supreme Court is for the U.S.