Honey.
If you could get it mono-floral, what would be your favourite and your most disliked?
Favourite: Alfalfa, White sweet clover, Red and Alsike clovers
Dislike: Dandelion
Favorite: My favorite is the honey produced by my own bees this year. It is a mixture of wild flower, mainly white clover, and blackberry. I believe it is the best honey that I have ever put in my mouth!
Dislike; A few years ago I bought some labeled orange honey.I will not say I disliked it but it was certainly my least favorite so far.
Mine, haven't found any better. I don't know if I will be able to repeat the taste here in FL.
Best: Palm honey. My spring is palm and fall is wild flower.
Worst :Had some bad clover, but had a mustered green honey that was dark and off.
Favorite: Golden rod / knotweed (I like the caramel after taste)
Of course are government will try to ruin it by introducing a new pest soon.
Dislike: Some of the July flows produce a honey with a lightly sour taste. I have no idea of the source.
My favorite is SOURWOOD! By a pretty large margin. It?s so light and sweet and flowery tasting. :tongue: I?m not really into clover honey. I know a lot of people like clover, but I think it tastes strong. I also tried some Tupelo honey last year, which I understand is desirable honey, but I really didn?t like it at all. That was from a kind of questionable apiary though, so maybe I should give Tupelo another try.
Quote from: beesnweeds on July 27, 2019, 10:04:06 AM
Favorite: Golden rod / knotweed (I like the caramel after taste)
Of course are government will try to ruin it by introducing a new pest soon.
Dislike: Some of the July flows produce a honey with a lightly sour taste. I have no idea of the source.
BITTERWEED blooms in July and makes honey taste sour. In this area we must extract in June to avoid the bitterweed.
Acacia, Sourwood, and my own are my favorites.
Favorite from my bees: Japanese Privet, which is a pale, fragrant vanilla-lemon.
Plus it's the whole experience of watching them work up close, as they knock each floret to the ground when it's empty of nectar. Powdery drifts of florets cover the ground, the scent is intoxicating. Since Pittosporum blooms about the same time, my frame of honey may have had a touch of it. Pittosporum's fragrance is mock orange blossom.
By the time of tallow tree and bay magnolia, the honey has a less subtle flavor. Autumn honey here is dark brown and almost spicy.
I dislike: Honey that tastes like dirt, as if from weeds by the side of the road. I had a few experiences over the years, from farmers' markets. Okay, back to the nice memories of ahh...[attachment=0][/attachment]
Mr. Gardener, that is a beautiful cluster of flower,s. Agree, I like the light colored honeys. However buckwheat which is almost black is also good now and then.
Blessings
Van
BITTERWEED blooms in July and makes honey taste sour. In this area we must extract in June to avoid the bitterweed.
We don't have bitterweed in ups NY.
Can those with shallow supers or top bar hives harvest mono-floral honeys better than those who take whole supers at a time?
In medium supers I think that I've seen darker honey at the top (wildflowers) while lighter (Mesquite and Cotton) are below.
This thread got me thinking about what I've seen. I just mixed them all together with my two-frame extractor.
Thinking out loud: how does one segregate crops from flow to flow? Can it be done? Is it worth the trouble?
Brother Michael, the Tupelo honey extractors are very particular. They apply empty supers to the hives that are introduced during Tupelo bloom to try to obtain as pure as possible Tupelo honey. The honey is then microscope for pollen types and graded as a percentage such as 85% Tupelo. Specific flowers have specific pollen shapes which can be identified. One pollen I studied was shaped as a round ball with sharp spines sticking out in all directions, I believe it was ragweed pollen. See yellow pollen in pic below.
If the word absolute is used, the word would most certainly be misused, as no honey is 100% pure monocrop. However, most beeks do a good job: they will extract the supers, remove all honey, prior to introducing the bees to the desired crop such as citrus, Tupelo, sourwood, acacia[black locust], etc.
Blessings
Van
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Thanks, Van.
Things have sure changed since I last had bees.
But I think it is for the better.
This is going to be fun!
We work with whole supers, when we shift from one source to another, the super on the bees will be a blend but the next one will be sold as the variety.
Favourite: Grey box, Eucalyptus macrocarpa
Dislike: Hogweed / wireweed, too earthy, after taste of wet hessian/raw mushrooms.
Quote from: FatherMichael on July 28, 2019, 06:30:57 PM
Thanks, Van.
Things have sure changed since I last had bees.
But I think it is for the better.
This is going to be fun!
Change, you betya. When I first acquired honeybees the bees were self supportive, stand alone, leave alone, buy a hive; place it on ground and forget about it until one wanted honey. A 10 frame full of bees cost my Dad $35.00, my first hive. ID, another beek on this forum got into bees before I did, his skep hive cost a bushel of wheat traded from a couple of guys wondering in the wilderness named Mosses and Aaron. ID is the most experienced on this forum and I poke fun at him now and then.
Blessings
Van
Good picture Van.
Jim Altmiller
It?s a shame Jarrah and Marri honeys aren?t readily available outside Australia. They are without doubt my favourite.
Having said this, unfortunately we don?t get any of the favourites listed above. 😩
Most of the plants I hadn?t even heard of before joining this forum!
Any Capillano honey is my least favourite...
Quote from: Skeggley on July 28, 2019, 09:17:03 PM
It?s a shame Jarrah and Marri honeys aren?t readily available outside Australia. They are without doubt my favourite.
Having said this, unfortunately we don?t get any of the favourites listed above. 😩
Most of the plants I hadn?t even heard of before joining this forum!
Any Capillano honey is my least favourite...
Skeggley, I have not before heard of Jarrah and Marri honeys. The amazing bee!! 🐝
Phillip
I?m not surprised Phillip as both trees only grow in the south west here in Aus. Marri or redgum is our main flow which generally occurs each year. High glucose levels makes it candy quickly unlike Jarrah which is predominantly fructose and is not such a consistent flowerer so is a rarer honey reflected by its price.
Both are thick dark caramelly sweet tasting honeys which have an added bonus with independent testing of Jarrah and Marri honey in New Zealand in 2016 found that it had stronger antimicrobial properties than the much prized Manuka honey.
The past season was poor with Jarrah not flowering and little to no Marri flowers although I still see Jarrah honey for sale at the markets..........
Tupelo is very nice. It's hard to beat sourwood.
Looks like I am going to have to get a jar of sourwood to give a try!
Quote from: Skeggley on July 29, 2019, 02:09:46 AM
I?m not surprised Phillip as both trees only grow in the south west here in Aus. Marri or redgum is our main flow which generally occurs each year. High glucose levels makes it candy quickly unlike Jarrah which is predominantly fructose and is not such a consistent flowerer so is a rarer honey reflected by its price.
Both are thick dark caramelly sweet tasting honeys which have an added bonus with independent testing of Jarrah and Marri honey in New Zealand in 2016 found that it had stronger antimicrobial properties than the much prized Manuka honey.
The past season was poor with Jarrah not flowering and little to no Marri flowers although I still see Jarrah honey for sale at the markets..........
Very interesting, thank you for your description of this delicious sounding honey!
Philip