What kind of honey does Costco carry? And is this real honey? Or has it been doctored up? What honey do I recommend buying? All these questions are about to be answered!
Oh do I have a taste for the sweet stuff. I love honey.
We have a pantry full of different types of honey. You can come on over any time to enjoy the nuances in the different varieties of honey. Honey is very popular in my house. The kids love to try different honeys on fresh from the oven bread. Or in the yogurt we are making now in our Instant Pot.
Speaking of popular, our monthly Costco Food Finds post are among the most popular content on this blog. So it was only a matter of time before I would dedicate an entire post to buying honey at Costco.
Welcome to your sweet guide to buying honey at the warehouse giant known as Costco. This post will help you not get stung next time you are considering honey at Costco.
For the record, I don't honey at Costco myself. I prefer to get it from local farmer's markets and small beekeepers. Not only do I think the honey produced is superior but I also love to support these small businesses (see our Hive Five for Honey page).
Those that do want to buy honey at Costco this post is meant to show you what to expect to find and what contents are in those containers.
What Types of Honey are Available at Costco?
The thing with Costco is that they aren't known for having a lot of variety of certain items. Most conventional grocery stores are going to offer more types of foods from cereals to pasta to vegetables to of course honey. Here is a list of the honey that I found at my Costco.
- Kirkland Clover Honey
- Manuka Honey
- Kirkland Organic Raw Honey
- Great Lakes Raw Honey
Clover honey is the most common honey.
It is a light, neutral flavor that most people are good with. This honey is a mix of different clover honey form both the U.S.A. and Argentina. It is not labeled as a raw honey so it is likely that it was heated up to make it easier to remove from the comb as well as to help prevent crystallization over time. This honey will be sweet, but not a whole lot of flavor beyond that.
Kirkland Clover Honey is True Source Certified. We will get to more of what that means shortly.
I believe this honey to be a better option than the first. It is a raw honey. The definition of raw honey is not regulated, but in general a raw honey wouldn't be heated past 118 degrees at any point. Raw honey doesn't indicate how much the honey has been filtered. This honey probably has been filtered quite a bit by the looks of it.
The honey is certified USDA organic. The source of the nectar the bees are collecting from have to be certified organic. This honey is also from Brazil.
Does Costco Sell Any Local Honey?
Next up we have a honey that is local to me here in Michigan. I am not sure what stores carry this honey. I would imagine other Costcos offer local honey like this one in different parts of the country.
This honey is made by Honeytree. They say the honey is "Strained at low temperatures to retain pollen and natural enzymes."
If you have a local honey in your Costco let me know in the comments below.
**UPDATE**
Since I originally wrote this post I have heard from several other people stating they have a local honey in their Costco stores. It seems Costco does care to carry a more local product. Here is a list of what people have found:
- North Dallas Honey Co Honey
- Peace River Organic Honey (Canada)
- Rice's Local Hive (out of Colorado, they sell regional honey such as Midwest, Washington, Colorado, etc)
Does Costco Sell Wildflower Honey?
None of the Costco stores I have been to have carried any strictly wildflower honey. I have only seen clover or raw honey. Could the raw honey be made of wildflower honey? Sure, but there isn't one that has been labeled as just wildflower.
If you are looking to purchase a good 100% raw wildflower honey I recommend Bloom Honey. They have a couple options. I really like their Highland Wildflower honey as it has a pineapple-like taste.
Learn about the difference between clover and wildflower honey.
Does Costco Sell Manuka Honey?
Manuka honey has been getting a lot of press over the last several years. A lot of people believe it has some great health benefits and they take a spoonful a day for that reason.
It comes with a pretty hefty price tag and with that a lot of altered or not genuine Manuka honey is making it's way to store shelves. If you are going to buy Manuka make sure you do your research on who is producing the honey so you don't spend that money in vain.
Is Costco Honey Real?
I have been asked the questions does Costco sell any Chinese or known doctored honey?
None of the honey from Costco said it was from China. The reason that is important is because a lot of Chinese honey has fillers added to their honey so it's not pure honey. They also have been known for shipping their honey through other countries and then into the U.S. market to try to circumvent.
The Kirkland brand honey and the Honeytree Michigan honey are both True Source Certified. Here is what that means (from the True Source website)
True Source Honey, LLC has developed the True Source Certified voluntary system of traceability for those participants who wish to demonstrate through an independent third party that their sourcing practices are in full compliance with U.S. and international trade laws. This system permits honey to be tracked from the consumer back through the supply chain to the country of origin and the beekeeper that harvested the honey from the beehive.
Seeing this certification on the honey can help you breathe a bit easier that you aren't getting doctored up honey. I don't assume if you don't see it that the honey is not safe. This is a program that honey producers can choose to go through.
I hope you are now a bit more educated on honey purchasing at Costco. Like I said at the top I myself don't buy honey at Costco. There is nothing wrong with it if you choose to. I wanted you to know what you were getting yourself into it. An educated shopper is a best shopper.
Let me know in the comment section below if you have bought honey from Costco and what did you get.
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Ginger L. Hunt
Just a heads up-when I decided to lose over 100lbs, I chose eating healthy to help. One of the best tips I got was to daily drink a glass of water with 2 TB of unfiltered, raw honey & 2 TB of raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar. We need the "mother"-the sediment they do,t filter out. It stopped my heartburn and definitely aids in digestion. I studied honey so I would get the best benefits and discovered-good raw & unfiltered honey is not heated above 95° (any higher and it kills the home's beneficial enzymes and removes much of the flavor), and will be opaque-if you can see through your honey it was heated to high & might have corn syrup added to it to make it more portable. It will be a light to medium golden not brown color and you rarely even will find little parts of bees in your honey which I love. The most wonderful tasting honey is also a bargain on Amazon-3lb. for $19 if you keep your eye on the price-it fluctuates. I get two 3 lb jars for under $30 because I signed up to Amazon subscribe & save. I have tried much more expensive and a couple cheaper and this is by far the best all around. It looks solid but is more like creamy and easily spread on bread. Y.S. ECO BEE FARMS, RAW HONEY. They do have organic but organic is actually practically impossible unless your bees are on leashes. Usually they only go a couple of miles but there is no guarantee. I found this honey at our local whole foods at twice the price. One other tip-locally harvested honey is the best is you suffer from allergy. Eating honey that is in pollinated flowers where you live will build up your tolerance of local pollen. My daughter has had great success with this. Thx for all your time and help and the darling video of your son picking cuties over halos.
Paula M.
Got the raw Michigan honey you showed at Costco today in Chicago.
Eric Samuelson
Awesome. I would love to hear what you think of it!
JenZ
I've seen honey from North Dallas Honey Co. in several Costco stores in my area. I haven't bought it there but mention for comparison since it appears that they may be sourcing local honey in multiple markets.
From their website:
North Dallas Honey Company has been providing local, raw and unfiltered honey for you and your family since 1972. They have partnered with North Texas beekeepers to provide top-quality, local raw honey. Their Texas honey is gently warmed and strained through cheesecloth to remove the "bee knees," leaving the enzymes and the antioxidants of the honey. For constancy, they blend a variety of honeys from honey-producing plants, including clover, vetch, wildflower, and mesquite.
(I'm not affiliated with this company.)
Eric Samuelson
Thanks for sharing. It's great to hear what other Costco stores are carrying.
Espi Farrahi
Thank you for your good information.I looked into honey a lot and read the kirkland organic honey is good as only bee hives in brazil are really organic so I buy those from costco and locals also we cant really find true source as not on their bottles.Thanks
Pipay
Thank you. Really helpful. You don't know how relieved I am.
Derek
Thanks for your blog post. I was recently at our local Costco here in Burlington, Ontario, and found most of the strains you described as well as some Canadian options. I purchased an Organic Creamed Honey from The Peace River region of British Columbia. I normally am not a fan of the creamed ones because they are often hard consistency. This one was a creamy liquid of almost the same consistency as liquid honey. It was one of the best I’ve had in a very long time and I’ve already gone through 1/2 the large container in 2 weeks by myself. It’s called Peace River Organic Honey. I wish I had bought more and hope they still have some when I go again this week.
Eric Samuelson
You're welcome and thanks for sharing what honey you found.
jared strand
Costco in Washington state carries LocalHive (Colorado based) Washington honey
Dale Bennett
I bought a 3 kg jug of 100% Pure Liquid Canadian Honey at Costco. The grade is Canada No.1 White unpasteurized. It's not as thick as local honey of the same grade and does not have the taste of local honey. It is about 10 times cheaper. I don't think I will buy it again as I really don't trust what the label says. I could be wrong but it just doesn't taste like honey to me.
Eric Samuelson
That doesn't sound good. If it tastes off there is a chance it could be doctored up. Does it have any type of certification on the label?
Lars Steinke
Great Lakes Raw at Costco in Dayton, Ohio (Centerville).
sandra stella
I have been buying the Kirkland clover honey for many years. I like it but was wondering about the quality of it. My friend's husband is a bee keeper here in NJ so occasionally he will "gift" me with a jar. I don't really detect any difference in the taste of that honey and the Kirkland brand. I love it all. Bring on the honey!
Eric Samuelson
Bring on the honey indeed 🙂
Eric Samuelson
Thanks for sharing your Ann Arbor love! Mary's actually just changed their named to Wicked Mary's, which I am not sure why or if anything about the food changed.
leslie farnel
I live in Hawaii and our costco sells several varieties of local honey in season one being wildflower
Eric Samuelson
Thank you so much for sharing that. It would be fun to try some Hawaiian honey.
Stephen Heydon
Hi There,
Yesterday I read an article that talked about all of the fake and ultra filtered honey on the market today. I wasn't getting anywhere on the Costco web site so I did a google search and found your article. Thanks for this information! We brew our own kombucha 4.5 gallons at a time and we only use honey. No sugar. We have been purchasing "True Sourced" Kirkland brand wildflower honey from Argentina, because honey from most retail sources is generally quite expensive and we use a fair amount of it in our brewing process. Kirkland's wildflower honey seems completely clear, which means that it probably has gone through the the "ultrafiltration" process to remove all of the nutritious pollen and wax from the product. The product doesn't say raw, so it probably also gets heated above 118ºF to make it less viscous and easier to filter. All that said the honey has a good flavor and makes a great kombucha! Some day when we have more money to spend on honey, we will switch to a raw unfiltered and possibly local honey, but for now the Kirkland brand wildflower honey seems to do the job well for our purpose.
R
This batch of the bear bottle honey from Brazil has a weird smell. I think there's something bad in it, maybe introduced by the processing equipment. I've never smelled honey this way, I wouldn't know where to find out anything about this batch. So much for transparency. Returning...
Eric Samuelson
That's not good to hear. I have not heard or experienced that before myself. This post is meant to show what they have at Costco, I usually prefer to buy honey directly from the source if I can.