Honey Varieties1

Honey Variety Descriptions

Trying to decide what honey to buy? Below are honey descriptions and helpful information on what these honeys taste like. Each year honey variety tastes can vary due to rain amount, nectar sources, sunlight, etc. which all affect what flowers, plants, trees, are in bloom for the bees to collect nectar and pollen from - each year we look forward to trying the various honey ourselves to see what the bees have collected for us!

Honey varieties we carry include: Bamboo Honey, Buckwheat Honey, Clover Honey, Goldenrod Honey, Locust Honey, Orange Blossom Honey, Tupelo Honey, and Wildflower Honey.

Let's first discuss the difference between "regular" honey and raw honey that we sell and honey that is found in supermarkets across the U.S. Most folks are familiar with store bought honey. This honey is typically filtered at high temperatures around 160 degrees for some time and then filtered through fine filters which removes the best qualities of honey which includes the pollen, beeswax, etc. The high temps also cook the beneficial enzymes so in our view you'd be better off drinking straight sugar water. Also some large packers will add corn syrup to honey to extend the shelf life so the honey looks nice and clear for consumers to buy.

Now our "regular" honey is taken off the hives and slightly filtered and bottled. As time progresses, we then have to heat the honey to 120 degrees to reliquify it as some folks simply do not like crystallized honey. This does not pasteurize the honey as honey needs to be cooked at higher temperatures around 160 degrees for quite some time. We simply heat it just enough to make it a liquid again. This honey will also crystallize as well, but at a much slower rate since it has been slightly heated.

All of the honey we sell is 100% pure honey, nothing adding and no adulteration is done to the honey. We enjoy selling varieties of honey to folks and hope you enjoy honey as much as we do!

Honey Varieties that we Sell:

Bamboo Honey

Bamboo honey comes from the Japanese Knotweed plant which is found in 39 of the 50 states. This plant is considered a very invasive weed. In the U.S.A. it is listed as an invasive weed in Ohio, Vermont, Virginia, New York and Washington states. Other English names for Japanese knotweed include fleeceflower, Hancock's curse, elephant ears, pea shooters, donkey rhubarb (although it is not a rhubarb), sally rhubarb, Japanese bamboo, American bamboo, and Mexican bamboo.

Japanese knotweed flowers are valued by some beekeepers as an important source of nectar for honeybees, at a time of year when little else is flowering. Japanese knotweed yields a monofloral honey, usually called bamboo honey by northeastern U.S. beekeepers, like a mild-flavored version of buckwheat honey. This honey is a very dark honey and also has a pleasant sweet taste to it.  

Buckwheat Honey

Buckwheat honey is pungent in flavor with molasses and malty tones and a lingering aftertaste. Buckwheat honey is also very dark in color. As a general rule, darker honeys tend to be higher in antioxidant compounds than lighter ones. Because of this characteristic, darker honeys also tend to be higher in mineral content on average, as compared to lighter honeys. The buckwheat plant is an excellent honey source, sometimes planted by beekeepers specifically for honey production. The blossoms are rich in nectar and blooming can continue into the fall.

Clover Honey

Clover honey has a pleasing, mild taste. Clovers contribute more to honey production in the United States than any other group of plants. The clover in our clover honey include white Dutch clover, white blossom clover, and yellow blossom clover. Clover honey has a sweet, flowery flavor and a pleasing mild taste.

Goldenrod Honey

Goldenrod honey has been described with a variety of color and taste descriptions. Our goldenrod honey is a light to medium honey in color and has a bit if a bite to it. Our customers who buy this honey like it for their allergy issues since goldenrod honey is taken off very late in the season when goldenrod is primarily the only plant in bloom. Mead makers love it for making their batches of mead. This honey also granulates quickly.

Locust Honey

Pleasant tasting honey, aromatic, and ranging from water white to light yellow in color, this honey comes from the black locust tree which flowers in long white racemes. This honey is tough to get as the trees are only flowering a couple of weeks at best and we typically have a big Spring storm which then knocks off prior to the bees being able to make a lot of locust honey.

Orange Blossom Honey

Orange blossom honey comes primarily from flowers of the orange blossoms from orange trees, but can be from a combination of citrus sources, is usually light in color and mild in flavor with a fresh scent and light citrus taste. Orange blossom honey is produced in Florida, Southern California and parts of Texas. We get our orange blossom honey from a friend who moves his hives south to FL. This honey has exceptional taste and is great used in tea, spreading on breads or biscuits and however you choose to use this honey. Great all around honey.

Tupelo Honey

Tupelo honey is produced in the southeastern United States. Tupelo trees have clusters of greenish flowers, which later develop into soft, berrylike fruits. In southern Georgia and northwestern Florida. ,The best Tupelo honey producing region in the world exists in the Florida panhandle along the Appalachicola, Chipola, and Choctahatchie River systems of creeks and backwaters. Tupelo is a leading honey plant, producing tons of white or extra light amber honey in April and May. The honey is a light golden amber color and has a mild, pleasant flavor. The Tupelo tree has been designated as being on the Ark of Taste, those plants and animals that are endangered and that must be protected.

Wildflower Honey