US grades, and whether to use one
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Optional to use, binding once used
USDA publishes grade standards for extracted and comb honey. FDA's guidance is that if a label carries a US grade, the honey must actually meet that grade as described in the standards. A, B, C or Substandard.
Nothing requires you to put a grade on a jar. Most small producers do not.
What the grades measure
Grade is largely moisture and freedom from defects, with color classified separately. Which is why the moisture number follows the grade around and why people reach for it as though it were a legal threshold for selling. It is a threshold for a claim.
The practical target is unchanged either way. Honey at or below roughly 18.6 percent keeps, and honey above about 20 percent may ferment. That is a reason to measure whatever you print.
Should you use one
At a farmers market, a grade means nothing to the buyer and adds an obligation to you. Selling into a channel that asks for it, it is a specification you are being held to and the honey needs to be measured rather than assumed.
The one thing not to do is print Grade A because it looks good. It is a claim, and it is checkable.
What the grades actually require
USDA scores extracted honey on four things: soluble solids, flavor and aroma, absence of defects, and clarity. The first is a measurement and the other three are judged.
Grade A requires soluble solids of not less than 81.4 percent, which is the 18.6 percent moisture figure read from the other side. Good flavor and aroma for the floral source, practically free from defects, reasonably clear.
Grade B keeps the same soluble solids requirement and relaxes the judged criteria to reasonably good.
Grade C drops to not less than 80.0 percent soluble solids, which is 20 percent moisture, and fairly good on the rest.
Substandard is anything failing C.
So the moisture ceiling people quote is Grade A's, and the grade below it is where the fermentation risk starts. That is the whole reason the two numbers travel together.
Color is classified, not graded
Color runs Water White, Extra White, White, Extra Light Amber, Light Amber, Amber and Dark Amber, and it is a separate classification from the grade. A dark amber honey can be Grade A and a water white honey can be Substandard.
This matters commercially because buyers conflate the two constantly. Light honey is not better honey; it is honey from a different nectar source. Dark late-season honey is usually stronger in flavor and often sells at a premium direct to consumers while being discounted in bulk, which tells you the preference is about the channel rather than about quality.
Who actually grades it
Grading is a voluntary USDA service that you request and pay for, and most small producers never encounter it. A label claiming a grade is a claim by you that the honey meets that description, not a statement that anyone inspected it.
Which is the trap. The claim is cheap to print and it is checkable, and the check is not usually a regulator. It is a wholesale buyer with a refractometer.