I purchased Honey from Costco Wholesale. Kirkland products are usually high quality, and this Honey is widely available for a terrific price. It claims to be sourced locally by the State with neighboring counties. This Kirkland Southeast Unfiltered Raw Honey is 100% U.S. Grade A, True Source Certified in a 3lb plastic bottle for $11.89.

Is this a Costco keeper? Members from MyWholesaleLife praised Costco’s available Honey products. Are they mislead?

Is this just another grocery store Honey in a bigger bottle? Read on for my review of Kirkland Southeast Unfiltered Raw Honey.

Kirkland Southeast Unfiltered Raw Honey

If you’re a member of Costco you can benefit from bulk products like Honey, Olive Oil and Nuts for great prices. I picked up this Kirkland Southeast Unfiltered Raw Honey for $11.89 in a 3lb jar in Mooresville, North Carolina. Item #1294240

They couldn’t verify who the suppliers or beekeepers actually were, but I’ll take what I could get as to where it was sourced.

Misleading, but this is the world of Honey.
Also notice the price sign is different than the label. Words matter. Here they list the product as Kirkland Signature Southeast “Blend” Raw Honey.

Diving Deeper – So, Who Produces It?

Honey sold at Costco is sourced from 2 vendors. Rice’s Honey ( Local Hive ) and Honeytree. They are US based, but does that even matter?

If you look into Rice’s Honey, you’ll soon discover its actually Local Hive which is based out of Colorado. It is likely they are still utilizing that contract with Rice’s Honey aka Local Hive and possibly Honeytree.

Costco’s vendors Honeytree & Rice’s claim that its a 51% blend with clover honey.
If you think it’s actually unfiltered, it isn’t.

Costco cited the USDA’s grading standard for Grade A filtered honey. Which doesn’t tell us what we think it means.

“There is nothing about “U.S. Grade A” that implies that it’s produced in the U.S. (in whole or in part). It just means it met US FDA standards.

The Sticky Issue

Real honey is not a blended product.
Real honey is not filtered to the point that most or all of the pollen is removed.

Commercially blended honey products do not build a market for real honey.

This is Costco’s way to sell “store bought” honey as equal as “beekeeper honey”.
But they aren’t the same thing.

What Did I Think?

The Honey itself is similar to Kelley’s Honey I just reviewed, and exactly the same as the Kirkland Texas Unfiltered Raw Honey. It’s more expensive than the Texas variant as well. This honey is a standard Clover or Wildflower Honey with no evident varietal source. Details on origin are convoluted with States and no context to season or pollen sources. You’re far too big of an entity to even consider local sourcing. That’s like saying the Chicago Bulls are Wisconsin’s Pro Basketball Team because it’s the team everyone knows in the Midwest.

Kirkland Raw Unfiltered Honey is not actually Raw, and if it was unfiltered there would be early signs of crystallization with the household temperature hitting below 65 this season.

What It Means

This means it’s been heat treated, and heavily filtered for Costco labeling and FDA standards.

Which means the “local” benefits have been processed out. I really dislike supporting this kind of honey and how its being marketed when everything that makes Honey beneficial is stripped out.

It’s still useful

I think if you’re using this to replace sugar content in recipes, or Teas its fine. Honey, I put into hot Tea is the “generic’ Honey. Where I’m just using it to sweeten something, and not really concerned about adding taste or getting the health benefits, since I’m going to kill it with scalding Hot Water.

I’ll likely use this for more Infused Honey ideas, or baked goods and breads. And with up to 65 servings at 1 tbsp each, that’s at least 60 cups of Tea. And you may think this is a value, and for some it is. But I can head to a local farm or apiary and get an entire quart for $10, which is a verified source with no misleading marketing, and I get to choose from varietal sources like Orange Blossom, or North Carolina’s exclusive Sourwood Honey.

Got to love Commercial branding, right?

I appreciate that Costco wanted to reach more markets with its Local Honey Program, but it’s just a marketing gimmick to pair up with Local Hive. The only thing the bottle is missing is the comb embossing on the side. And well, actual local honey.

The information I got from Customer Service, and the article in Costco Connection, and other sources, this isn’t actually what it’s being sold as.

Making this Kirkland Southeast Unfiltered Raw Honey just another generic grocery store Honey. Use it for Mead if you must.

Beekeepers associate these companies as Honey Packers and not actually Beekeepers. I wouldn’t buy this again, unless I needed this much in a bind.
If you don’t have a Costco membership, you could purchase this Local Hive Southeast Honey on Amazon. It’s basically the same exact thing.