Mint flavored honey

[rsilver000]

I just extracted this sunday--2 gallons.  The honey has a very distinctive mint flavor aftertaste.  It is really good but I have never tasted this before.  I am not sure where the plant is that is giving this flavor to the honey.  There are no huge beds of mint in the neighborhood.  Any ideas what other flowering plants could give a mint flavor to honey?
Rob

[TwT]

don't know of any other plants that give a mint taste besides mint,, mint grows wild and once you plant one plant you can't kill the stuff, it just keeps growing and showing up, I planted one mint plant out by my garden about 6 years ago for my daughter and I have used Roundup and a few more and that stuff just keeps coming up, its covering about a 30 foot area so not out of hand but could be later on, I bet someone has some mint around there, and remember there are different kinds of mint also.....

[BMAC]

I would bottle it seperately and sell it as naturally mint flavored honey.  There are places out there that infuse mint into honey and charge a premium for it.  Something to ponder.

[Summerbee]

Mmm.  Minty honey, I would think customers would eat that up. :D  Really.

[KONASDAD]

Would be tasty in some ice-tea!

[keeper007]

could it be linden honey

[latebee]

Wild aster honey has a very slight mint flavor. It blooms just before goldenrod in my area.

[rsilver000]

There is quite a bit of lindon around here.  Does the flower have a minty necture?  The flower as I seem to recall doesn't have much of a smell.
Interesting to try and identify the flower that caused the taste.  Since this is the first year of the hives in this location, I may have found an interesting time of the year to extract honey to get this flavor!
Rob

[Zoot]

The Linden bloom up your way should be long past by now. Wild aster and wild mint are the likely source as they are abundant here and several guys I know keep their bees near relatively abundant sources just to get that flavor.

[Scadsobees]

The linden(basswood) bloom generally during the month of June, which is when much of the honey you harvested is probably from.

I find the flavor very strong in my June honey, and linden is the only source that I could figure out that would have enough volume to cause that strong of a flavor in my honey.  I just can't beleive that there is that much mint around, and I know one linden tree can have thousands of blossoms.

[TwT]

I looked up that linden tree (Basswood) and found this so I guest the linden tree is were it came from......... wish I had about 100 of them here

Produced from the nectar of the Basswood or Linden tree, this honey has a delicate body, with a hint of mint or floral flavor.

[Scadsobees]

I actually find what I presume is linden honey to be a bit strong, and kept that harvest seperate.  Some people seem to like both the linden and the regular(wildflower), but I think that most prefered the regular wildflower variety.

When extracting, it was throwing off smells that approached medicine/cough drop/eucolyptus smells.

Makes a great mead though 8)

-rick

[rsilver000]

The honey does not have a mint smell.  You only taste the mint after the initial honey flavor.  I feel like I am describing wine instead of honey, and quite frankly I can never taste half the flavors in wine that people say are there.  Even my 17 year old son tasted it, and with no prompting from me.
Interesting stuff.  It will be interesting to see if it is there every year, with what for me in my region, is my first good flow for extracting.
Rob

[latebee]

Rob wrote > what for me in my region,is my first good flow for extracting



Not sure if you are looking for quantity or flavor-----------
Probably any honey from local spring wildflowers. The only spring honey that doesn't thrill me is from dandelion bloom. This is a personal opinion,some say they love dandelion honey.

[amymcg]

Sounds like my early honey.  I just pulled a couple of frames yesterday and just like last year, it tastes like mint.

[BEE C]

Bee balm is related to mint and it grows wild in your area if I'm not mistaken, as well as being a very popluar garden cultivar.  I planted a patch near my hives and the bumblebees are FIGHTING over it!

[rsilver000]

Bee C,
I think you may have got the flower correct.  We have boatloads of beebalm in our area.  Between my neighbors and myself we probably have 100 plants.  As you noticed, it teeming with bumblebees, but I have not seen the honey bees on it.  I probably am just looking at the wrong times of the day.

Latebee,
This is the first opportunity to extract for my region.  I am not intersted in max amounts of honey (although that means more gifts) but high quality hives and honey.  

These hives are from packages this year and they have already filled up 2 stardard hive bodies with brood and now are working on lots of supers/ross rounds.  I really did not expect that this year from either hive.  I have filled 4 supers worth of ross rounds which really surprised me.
Rob

[Brian D. Bray]

Mint flavored honey makes a great glaze for lamb chops.  I have mint all along the creek and it's taking over the field.  The bees love it.  I'm seriously considering a buyinga couple of lambs to graze on it next year.  That way I won't have to use mint jelly.

[Zoot]

I took a few shots of some of the rather impressive mint growth (infestation to some) around here but, naturally, my scanner isn't working. Anyway, along the Potomac and the Monocacy (around Frederick, Dickerson, Point of Rocks, etc)and many of the smaller tributaries I have seen many areas of growth exceeding an acre or more. It's actually quite attractive in full bloom but I have noted that the dominant species that I've seen on the blossoms has been an unusual sort of black wasp. Second most common are the smaller bumble bees and other small garden bees with honey bees being in the minority.

[Kirk-o]

You Know thats fasinating you guys got all those nice trees back east you luky dogs
kirko