poisoned honey

[a wannabee]

I heard that honey that is made with Mountain Laurel nectar is poison honey. Is there any truth to this?

[tillie]

Dr. Paul Arnold spoke to our bee club about this last year.  Apparently due to the drought in Georgia much of the honey produced in the mountains last bee season was predominantly mountain laurel.  It makes people sick.  If you get mountain honey, there will be a little mountain laurel in the honey but if there's mostly mountain laurel, it will "poison" you in that it makes you really sick. 

Last year the drought in Georgia stopped the bloom on many plants and diminished the nectar flow.  Many N Georgia beekeepers last year called upon Dr. Arnold (who is a palynologist) to analyze the pollen in their honey to make sure it had only a trace of mountain laurel.

Another reference

Linda T in the N Georgia mountains at the Young Harris Beekeeping Institute where I heard Dr. Arnold speak this very day about plants and pollen!