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  • From: Bynum Hoekstra <bynumhoekstra AT gmail.com>
  • To: John Rintoul <beecd AT icloud.com>
  • Cc: Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com>, Orange County Beekeepers Association <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Educating the honey consumer masses
  • Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2017 09:17:07 -0400

John, you're too kind! And, you should know that a lot of my beekeeping skills have come as a result of your responses to my slightly panicked emails over the past year and a half :) 

On Sun, Aug 6, 2017 at 10:20 PM, John Rintoul <beecd AT icloud.com> wrote:
Randall, 
I wondered the same thing. The internet (the ultimate source of wisdom on all things bee😀) suggested that honeydew and buckwheat were the most likely source for very dark honey. In our honey tasting the dark honey received about 30% of the 'people's choice' votes earning a 2nd  place finish. Clearly a crowd pleaser. FYI the #1 rating was for Bynum's honey - 60% of the votes. His hives are w/in 1000 feet of mine. My only consolation was that Bynum was in my First Year Cluster last year. His beekeeping skills clearly exceed mine. He not only got better tasting honey, his bees were more generous in terms of pounds produced per hive.

The taste of the dark honey is intense, but it has floral taste layers. I'll bring some to the membership meeting on Thursday and everyone can speculate on its origins. 

John 


On Aug 6, 2017, at 6:25 PM, Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com> wrote:

John,

I wonder if the dark honey is honeydew honey? What does it taste like?

Randall


On 8/6/2017 1:34 PM, Walter Starks wrote:
Blackberry honey is fairly dark and lots of wild blackberries around my house. I know one beekeeper in Pittsboro that has a u-pick blackberry farm. His honey is about the color of grape juice.

______

Walter


You never can tell with bees. ~ Winnie-the-Pooh

On Aug 6, 2017, at 11:55 AM, John Rintoul <beecd AT icloud.com> wrote:

Yesterday I hosted a honey education event for friends and neighbors. We extracted and then tasted honey from hives scattered over 4 different locations. Two of the Carrboro locations were as close as 1,000 feet (#1 and #3 counting from left in the pic below) and yet the flavor profile was wildly different. The honey from the hive from Chatham County looked like a very dark, very strong cup of coffee. I’m not sure what the bees in Chatham found, but it is significantly darker than my Carrboro tulip poplar honey (#1). If anyone has a clue regarding possible nectar sources for dark honey please chime in. The primary known sources in that vicinity are blueberries and hollies, both of which produce light colored honeys. Most of the surrounding trees are oaks.

It was a fun event. The kids loved the extraction process. Everyone loved the variability in taste and color. 

-John

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