Polski
We pride ourselves on the fact that Anna Bee’s C is an absolutely unique syrup: we make it by hand from Polish raspberries and honey straight from beehives that are set up in a clean area. The syrup is one hundred percent raw, produced at low temperature, unpasteurized and without any preservatives. When it comes to bioavailability, Anna Bee C is second to none. It also trumps other preparations with vitamin C because of its taste, dose (1000 mg of vitamin C in 5 ml) and gentleness for the stomach.
This syrup is alive, full of beneficial bacteria, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, pollen and all the goodness that comes from bees, so we store it in the fridge regardless of whether the bottle has been opened or not, because (let me just remind you) it’s ‘alive, natural, raw, unpasteurized, produced at low temperature’….
All this means, however, that Anna Bee C is a bit… Unpredictable. We set the expiry date to 3 months from the date of production, but depending on the season, water content in raspberries, transport temperature and factors that sometimes seem completely random, occasionally the syrup activates a little earlier. First it starts to separate, then it bubbles, sometimes it seeps out from under the cork, with time it fades a bit, etc…
It really doesn’t pretend, it lives life to the fullest.
In the photo above, you can see a row of bottles with the same batch poured on the same day into the same sterilized bottles, and stored in identical conditions. On a hot day, I took the bottles for a ride to the fair and back, kept them in a hot trunk and this disrespectful treatment pertained to all bottles without exception. So why does the syrup on the left look as if nothing had happened, the syrup in the bottles in the middle has only separated, and the one in the bottle on the right has partially bubbled out and seeped out from under the cap? I have no idea, but I really respect this inner life and bow down to its unpredictability.
Because bioactivity is nothing bad or harmful. Even if the syrup changes its color, smell or structure a bit over time, it will not want to spoil. It will bubble, activate, ferment over time, it will be different, but it will still not be poisonous.
How does this happen? It’s quite simple – the syrup consists mostly of two preservatives, which is real honey and ascorbic acid. Out of curiosity we tested a 14-month-old sample, which had already seeped out from under the cork ten times, and it did not contain pathogenic bacteria and, apart from a slightly increased amount of lactic acid bacteria, it was still suitable for consumption. It was definitely suitable for me because of course I needed to drink it. And I was fine 😀
Our bottle of Anna Bee C for everyday use is always on the kitchen counter. We only keep reserve supplies in the fridge. The syrup does not spoil in heat, but it activates about a month after the day of production. We don’t mind it at all, because we consume loads of it so we only store the reserves in the cold. However, this also means that if the bottles need to spend a few days in the heat during transport, the syrup will not be harmed, at most it will activated a bit sooner than the date written on the label. No big deal.
However, because we love it when Anna Bee C is as fresh as possible, in the summer we do not ship it on Fridays so as not to unnecessarily warm up the bottles in sorting plants over the weekend.
Some time ago, our friends ‘found’ a bottle of ‘Anna Bee C wine’ that was over six months old in the depths of their fridge, just when they needed to quickly recover from an infection. They told us that the wine was delicious and as effective as fresh syrup.
However, we advise against stocking up, but at the same time we are aware that the standards of supplements which can be stored on shelves for years can cause a small surprise when reading the suggested expiration date on the back of our bottle. We are also aware of shipping costs and we understand the desire not to multiply them unnecessarily. We also think about the hundreds of liters of fuel burned every day by couriers, sometimes perhaps needlessly.
So we keep looking for ways to extend the shelf life of Anna Bee C, but so far we have not found a method that would allow us to preserve all of its beneficial properties.
EXCEPT FOR ONE – freezing!
As it turned out, Anna Bee C can be easily frozen, even in a bottle! Honey doesn’t really expand so even the half-liter bottle that I froze was completely unaffected.
However, I think a better idea is to pour smaller portions into zip-lock bags and defrost them one by one as you need it.
Stuffing such contraband in the freezer is a great method for sudden attacks of a virus when you don’t have a single drop of the syrup at hand, which happens more often than we would like to admit.😉
It is best to defrost the syrup slowly in the fridge, because it will behave nicely for another month. Then it will start to go crazy, but – let me remind you again – it will not become poisonous, only … less insanely awesome😉
I am writing all this for two reasons:
1. so that you are not afraid when Anna Bee C starts to ferment, separate and bubble ‘ahead of time’ or if a bottle gets lost somewhere for a long time, or remains forgotten on the counter in a warm kitchen,
2. so that you are aware that ‘old’ Anna Bee C, although still potent, is a completely different beast than fresh Anna Bee C, which is why we produce it in small batches and actually never sell syrup that is older than 1.5 months. We want it to reach you as fresh as possible, full of strength and goodness from honey and raspberries, so we recommend buying it fresh or freezing your supplies.
To sum up:
1. if the Anna Bee C is stored in the refrigerator, for the first 3 months from the day of production it should be polite and intensely pink, although there is a good chance that in the third month it will start to separate,
2. if, due to warm transport or unpredictable internal life, Anna Bee C starts to bubble before the date described on the back of the label, it is most likely still full-fledged (just try it – if it tastes good, it is good),
3. to extend the shelf life, Anna Bee C can be frozen and then defrosted when you need it and you can’t afford to wait for the new order to arrive.
In this clever way, you can outsmart time and stock up on syrup that has a relatively short expiration date. Checkmate, nature!