Honey dew honey

[mat]

This year seems to be very good in Europe, probably because of lot of honey dew. Finsky would confirm. But here in US many even do not consider honey dew honey as honey, where as in Europe it is consider as one of the best or the best honey. I am curious why is the difference?

[Dick Allen]

Probably has to do somewhat with what people are used to. Anchorage has a small number of Russian people living here. Some of them are honey customers of mine.  They all prefer crystallized honey over the liquid variety.

Honeydew honey typically is darker, thicker, and has a stronger flavor than most honey produced from flowers.  Also the fact that honeydew nectar comes from aphids pumping tree sap through their bodies gives some people the impression that honeydew is little more than aphid "excrement".  That is only partially true though as aphids pump large amounts of tree sap through their bodies and actually strip only a portion of the sap's nutrients. They also add some of their own enzymes to the sap before it exits their body.

[Mici]

jep, this year was great, some are making fun like: every pole is giving honeydew this year, and so it was.
i prefer honeydew honey over flower honey, it's tastyer IMO and i like it because it's thicker.

I read that only Carniolans can forage honeydew from coniferous trees, can someone confirm this or prove it wrong?
Fir tree honey is said to be the best and i kind of agree, it really tastes great, plus they say it contains the most vitamins enzymes and stuff.
here we have like...around 8 general sorts of honey (some flows are more occasional then regular, such as buckwheat) i think three are from honeydew. we have, pine tree, fir tree, "forest" honey. forest is a general word for combination of beech tree, maple, oak and other honeydew sources honey.

But as mr. Allen said it, it's a thing of a habit i guess.

[Jerrymac]

aphids pump large amounts of tree sap through their bodies and actually strip only a portion of the sap's nutrients. They also add some of their own enzymes to the sap before it exits their body.

So in other words  aphid excrement.

[Brian D. Bray]

One person's trash is another person's treasure.  The same is true for food.  KiKi (Large water beetles) is eaten raw and avidly in New Geunia.  In the Philipines it's duck eggs which are boiled a day or two before hatching (you eat the unborn duck;ing).  In the USA there's hog rinds.
In France it's Frog legs and snails.  (I've eaten it all).  
Honey can be called bee vomit.  After all, they put it in a special stomach and reguritate it after getting back to the hive.  (I eat honey too).

[Dick Allen]

I’m with Brian. It’s all in the mind of whoever is eating it. In some countries of the world bee larva is considered a great food source, too.

Honeydew honey sugars are, according to what I read in ‘The Hive and the Honey Bee’, more complex than sugars from floral honeys, because two sets of enzymes are involved--those of the aphid and those of the honey bee. E.O. Wilson writing in ‘The Insect Societies’ says aphids pass sugar rich liquid sap through their bodies in only slightly altered form, while absorbing  some of the amino acids and sugars, so yes most of the sap is expelled or excreted through the body of the aphid. I think though that regarding honeydew as “excrement” as the word is generally used is less than completely correct.

Honeydew honey has a higher mineral content than floral honey and so for health food conscious folks, it might actually be “better for you” than flower honey. (Note, I wrote might in addition to using quotation marks.)

As far as bees go, it seems to me that any race of bee will gather honeydew during a nectar dearth. Generally, I run Carniolans and they do gather it from time to time, but I rather doubt they are the only race of bee to do so.

[empilolo]

I go along with Brian, it's all in the upbringing and regional custom.

GRUB TIME (a local delicacy from the grill)



but order a Steak Tartare and they turn green.

[Finsky]

I am just taking off honey from hives and I have a lot of honey dew honey. Quality is splended.  During my 45 beekeeping years this is first time I get it in big quantities. Perhaps 25-30% is honey dew from my yield.

My beekeeping friend nera me got  280 lbs honey per hive. I do not know my own result because most part is in combs.

[nepenthes]

Africa They eat The Termite Alates...

[Mici]

aphid bleep-honeydew, hell if my bleep was sweet i bet you'd pay for it :lol:

Next year, i'm gonna try some drone larvaes or some unhatched drones, they must be good. fry 'em up and dip 'em in some honey

[BEE C]

I tried larvae this year and I wouldn't recommend them, very sour.  Same goes for Royal jelly that is taken from a queen cell to far along...Horrible.

[Mici]

hmmm, what did you eat, larvae or drone in development, because the difference is huge, it's only that larvaes are so small that it would take quite some time before you'd get enough to eat.
royal gel, humm, did you produce it, or what? And, you never eat royal gel by itself, mix it with honey and some pollen.

[Dick Allen]

I've tasted both larvae and royal jelly and I'll agree royal jelly was nasty tasting stuff. Ughhh!  I have also eaten a few larvae out of curiosity. Those actually weren't bad. The flavor, to me, resembled that of raw corn.

[abejaruco]

I have tasted both too. Royal jelly and royan jelly with a white, fat queen -it was a desperation act-. Royal jelly with queen is better.

[abejaruco]

By the way, have you ever eaten the sea anemone, Stichodactyla Helianthus?

I eat it fried and with salt. With a cup of Sherry and before the lunch is "bueno".

http://img131.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc07720sc5.jpg

[Brian D. Bray]

to many to the peice of resitance is raw oysters, yummy.  I eat more on the beach when clam digging than I bring home.

[Finsky]

What do you thinks about hen eggs when you know where they come from?  

Or pork?

[Brian D. Bray]

Bacon & Eggs for breakfast=unborn babies and mammary glands. 8)