Honey 101

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Originally Posted by tulip

How do you train bees to only go to clover blossoms, or orange blossoms, or whatever? I mean, they go to whatever flowers are blooming, right? While there might be an orange grove nearby, you can't really claim that it's all orange blossom pollen, can you?

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Bees are opportunists - they'll use the pollen from whatever plant is closest to the hive first and only venture futher if they need to. This is why commercial growers can dump hives in the middle of clover fields (very common sight to see around here in the spring) and then call it 'clover' honey. While there may be other types of flowers in the mix, it will be predominantly clover.

For backyard beekeepers who are more interested in using their bees for pollinating gardens and orchards, it's helpful to NOT plant bee-specific flowers in the immediate area of the hives so that the bees get used to traveling futher afield for their pollen. Our bee flowers are planted near the edges of our property and the bees are located directly in the middle of our orchard with the garden between them and the wild flowers, all intentionally.

My guess is that you can probably label honey by the type of flower even if you are not a commercial grower depending on where you live. If you live in an area that really only has clover blooming from x date to x date and you harvest honey before the next main type of crop goes into bloom - then I would think you could safely call it 'clover' honey. I don't know the actual rules about this though.

I should also mention that 'local' honey is different from 'backyard' honey. Local honey can be produced by growers who do transport hives - they just do it locally. Sometimes they contract with berry farms or grass farmers and sometimes the berry farms themselves have bee colonies to move from field to field. Backyard honey comes from hives that don't get moved. These hives would only produce 'clover' honey (for example) if that person's backyard happend to be on the edge of a clover field with nothing else growing nearby. Most backyard producers due use seasons to differentiate their honey. Though, for us, near the mid to end of the summer, the only thing that is still blooming are the blackberries and I suppose that if we were in it for the 'types' of honey, we could make that work. We don't because our abilty to harvest honey is only the secondary reason for having the bees. The bees get first dibs - we only harvest in late spring when the bees need less of it. We'd never pull it out of the hive in the fall.

Bees bring in nectar (in their special nectar-storage stomach) and pollen (packed onto their leg 'baskets') based on what is abundantly blooming at a given time within 2-5 mile radius of their hive, regardless of whether their hive stays in one place or gets moved to specific crops or orchards.

You can often tell what kind of honey you are getting in a frame or super based on the color of the pollen packed into the cells at that time. http://www.bee-craft.com/beekeeping-...en-in-comb.jpg Pollen can be white, yellow, orange, greenish, blue, lavender, red, etc, and it's the clue that tells you if the honey being made that week is mostly from a certain plant, tree, or flower. If there are many things in bloom at a particular time and the pollen is all mixed up, then it's often just called 'wildflower honey'.

My niece who lives in Savannah, GA recently gave me a jar of Tupelo honey. It was the best tasting honey I've ever had, and I've eaten my share of honey throughout the years. You've gotta try it sometime if given the opportunity.

All great info! But I'm still confused! There are at least six different types of local arizona honey. Does the orange blossom taste different than the mesquite, or the other flavors. Does each type of honey have a distinct flavor (does orange blossome taste like oranges?)

Thanks!

Lisa

I'm a big tea drinker at work, and our local public market has a wonderful honey vendor. So, my desk has quite the array of teas and jars of honey! The different honeys DO taste different! Some have very subtle differences, but some are pretty wild. Buckwheat honey is very dark, almost like molasses, and has a very rich flavor, almost a bit smoky. Spring honey is a lighter taste than summer honey. I also have 'berry blossom' honey, which does taste a bit umm... fruitier, I guess?

My cubicle buddy used to work at an apiary, and can tell me what sort of blossom the honey is likely to have come from. It's like having a somellier of honey sitting next to me :)

The buckwheat honey tastes excellent on oatmeal with a handful of roasted nuts and some dried cranberries.

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Originally Posted by copperlegend

The buckwheat honey tastes excellent on oatmeal with a handful of roasted nuts and some dried cranberries.

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I like buckwheat honey in my big 'bowl' of Japanese kukicha/twig tea every evening. They are both woody/smokey and enhance each other.

:o Prior to driving to Melbourne, I remembered that travellers by road can't bring fruit, veggies, seeds, plants etc accross the WA-South Australian border...What I didn't know: honey was included :(. I bought some local honey in Forrest, Vic hoping to try it when we arrived home. When we pulled up to the stop sign at the WA border inspection & saw honey on the list I thought...poo...I was a honest individual & told the quarantine inspector as I know what how much the fines are :(:eek:

I guess we'll just have to go back to vic & try some local honey. The fig jam made it through though.

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Originally Posted by crazycanuck

:o Prior to driving to Melbourne, I remembered that travellers by road can't bring fruit, veggies, seeds, plants etc accross the WA-South Australian border...What I didn't know: honey was included :(. I bought some local honey in Forrest, Vic hoping to try it when we arrived home. When we pulled up to the stop sign at the WA border inspection & saw honey on the list I thought...poo...I was a honest individual & told the quarantine inspector as I know what how much the fines are :(:eek:

I guess we'll just have to go back to vic & try some local honey. The fig jam made it through though.

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Wow, there are some interesting problems in Aussieland being a big continent out in the middle of the ocean.

I can't imagine..it sounds almost as unusual as trying to restrict maple syrup transport across Canada.:p Or birch syrup but that's even more expensive.
Again honey is just another of those cultural specific things eaten or produced only in certain regions of the world for retail consumption. Think about it: most traditional East Asian recipes don't use honey.

I didn't develop any honey understanding until I met my dearie. :)

California and Florida for sure have agricultural border controls, although Florida doesn't inspect passenger vehicles any more. But I wouldn't have expected them to include honey, either, bummer. :( From just a quick search, it looks like it's okay to bring honey into California. Doesn't Canada at least have restrictions on moving firewood, with the emerald ash borer spreading so quickly?

I didn't think I'd be able to bring honey from Europe into the USA, though, so only bought a little pot from a farmers' market on our last trip, just enough to taste with some local cheeses.

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

Doesn't Canada at least have restrictions on moving firewood, with the emerald ash borer spreading so quickly?
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Guess it's been a long time you've been across the 49th parallel?

Canada and U.S. both have high restrictions on bringing in veggies, plants, fruits, flowers, etc. across the border. I have been on buses and trains where passengers were abit paranoid plus the inspection authorities that one had to chomp away at their apple. Extreme situation.

Or at least discard their bag of fresh cherries before crossing the border.

It's been awhile since I've crossed the Canada-U.S. border in a car (abnormal eh? We live less than 45 kms. north of the border)...so maybe people sneak in stuff ..but can't see how that's possible with border authorities' ability to get at the drugs stashed away in all sorts of wierd places.

We used to get freaked out at the CA agricultural station, crossing the border in Yuma. Since I used to make several trips a year, to visit my parents in San Diego, I tried to hide the various fruits I had for my kids to eat on the 5 hour trip. Never got caught, but I fairly sure at one point, my kids though bananas were a type of illegal drug!

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Originally Posted by shootingstar

Guess it's been a long time you've been across the 49th parallel?

Canada and U.S. both have high restrictions on bringing in veggies, plants, fruits, flowers, etc. across the border. I have been on buses and trains where passengers were abit paranoid plus the inspection authorities that one had to chomp away at their apple. Extreme situation.

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It's been since 1967 actually. :o But I was referring to inter-province restrictions, since you were surprised that Australia has inter-state restrictions, as the US does.

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

California and Florida for sure have agricultural border controls . . .

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Guess it's been a long time since you've driven to California, huh? One of the first things to go with the budget. Trucks sometimes. Passenger cars, not so much. I can't remember the last time we had to stop or the station was even open.

Honey varies depending on the flowers being used. Based on that color, texture and taste, especially, changes.

An interesting variety of honey I've tried was bought from Thailand. I believe they used poppy flowers to make them. So the taste is slightly bitter with a rich golden color. According to the in house scientist/researcher, the research center was a project of the Queen of Thailand to give jobs to the poor and make the most of the poppies being planted. Use them for something productive and healthy instead of making drugs. :P

I think the brand was Thepprasit if I remember it right.

They also make royal jelly and other pollen based products. Quite tasty too.

I shared some of my poppy honey to a friend when they needed some for their peanut butter brownies and said that the taste of the honey was still quite prominent.