Author Topic: If you like honey, what sort do you like best? (Read 8758 times)

triffid · « **on:** October 22, 2006, 20:15:32 »

The National Honey Show ended yesterday and I had a great time nattering to lots of other beekeepers from all over the country (and beyond!) ...

Having spoken to several who major in borage honey (about the lightest and clearest of all -- when it's liquid, it's almost the colour of dry white wine) and others who rely on rapeseed (another pale honey; granulates fast and hard) I'm fascinated to know more about what people like in different honeys...

You see, most of the folk that buy our honeys prefer darker ones, from mixed summer flowers.

So can I just ask what kind of honey you like best?

Robert_Brenchley · « **Reply #1 on:** October 22, 2006, 22:07:20 »

The best I've had was a mix of bramble and privet, with other things thrown in. Bramble is always my mainstay, but it's very bland. Privet is dark and much stronger-tasting, and the result was far better.

triffid · « **Reply #2 on:** October 22, 2006, 22:51:53 »

... which just goes to show, cause one of the Wise Ones down my way reckons privet honey is inedible!

Have you tasted ivy honey?

Robert_Brenchley · « **Reply #3 on:** October 23, 2006, 09:15:31 »

I've heard the thing about privet being inedible as well. Maybe it is when it first comes in; a lot of the stronger ones seem to mellow with time. Ivy's very pale, bland, and the problem is that it crystallises in nothing flat. There are tales of bees being unable to use it over winter, and even of bees being killed by it crystallising in the honey stomach. I certainly don't believe the latter. Some bees may have trouble utilising it, but our native bees must have been wintering on it for millennia, and I don't believe they can't cope. Mine brought in loads this year, and a very good thing too after this awful season. I've still got a bit of feeding to do, but nowhere near as much as I thought a few weeks ago.

supersprout · « **Reply #4 on:** October 23, 2006, 09:40:27 »

Oh that sounds like a great event triffid, lucky you! Extremes - a good treacly eucalypt or heather honey, OR a beautiful pale (don't mind acacia but will look for borage now). If I can, I always buy local honey, but it's not always easy. I get put off by crystallisation - is there a cure? ::)

caroline7758 · « **Reply #5 on:** October 23, 2006, 10:14:02 »

Brought some chestnut honey back from Italy in the summer, but not too keen on it- it has a really strong flavour. Got some sunflower honey in France which was yummy and some "spring blossom" Yorkshire honey which was also good.

Robert_Brenchley · « **Reply #6 on:** October 23, 2006, 11:53:54 »

If you want to 'cure' crystallised honey, warm it gently. Maybe put it on top of the hot water tank overnight? I've never bothered myself, but I well remember Gale's honey from when I was a kid; sometimes it was so thick that you couldn't spread it at all. That was clover, which used to be the major UK honey till they ploughed up all the old permanent pasture.

If the honey crystalises, that suggests it's good stuff; supermarket honey is heated and microfiltered, and in the process they remove everything which distinguishes honety from syrup, and destroy a lot of the medicinal value into the bargain. Don't ever heat it strongly unless you want to wreck the taste.

Toadspawn · « **Reply #7 on:** October 23, 2006, 12:25:33 »

I like the taste and smell of heather honey.
I once used to take bees to the N York moors for winter stores and a bit of surplus if lucky. Wonderful scent when extracting.
The farmer occasionally had the most superb very dark honey, very thick but not crystallised. He said it came from pine trees but it was not honey dew. However, he could never find the source and if it was produced it was about the same time as the heather flowered, perhaps a bit earlier.

Robert_Brenchley · « **Reply #8 on:** October 23, 2006, 18:38:52 »

If it really came from pine trees it has to have been honeydew. It's generally thick, dark, sometimes greenish-black, with a strong taste. In some parts of continental Europe it produces a significant crop. Some people love it.

triffid · « **Reply #9 on:** October 23, 2006, 19:37:15 »

Toadspawn -- that dark honey may have been sweet chestnut, perhaps.
A fellow beekeeper in Yorkshire gets the occasional batch of a lovely honey from a grove of sweet chestnuts; really dark (shine a torch through it and it glows like port!)

Never done the heather run, though: looking at (and tasting :P) some of the Irish heather honey I bought at the show, maybe I should be brave and try... amazing stuff!
The Lakes and Scotland are too far, I think, for us -- but there was a time when quite a few beekeepers hereabouts had contacts in East Anglia and used to take advantage of heather there.

Carol · « **Reply #10 on:** October 23, 2006, 23:06:43 »

I do eat a lot of Honey, too much at times. I like Heather Honey but also I sometimes buy Borage Honey. Its a wonderful natural food.
We have relatives who have a Honey Farm who has his hives all over North Northumberland and Scottish Borders. Click on this interesting web site. If you are in this area, this place is worth a visit.

http://www.chainbridgehoney.co.uk/

triffid · « **Reply #11 on:** October 23, 2006, 23:12:03 »

I haven't even clicked the link -- Willie Robson's famous (and even more so since the publication of Sweetness and Light)!

Not visited yet, but Chain Bridge Honey Farm' s definitely a highlight to be added to my next northerly tour.

But if he's a relative, surely you shouldn't have to lower yourself to buying honey ;D

Carol · « **Reply #12 on:** October 23, 2006, 23:26:26 »

Well, I do get quite a lot free but it is a business and I like to pay for it if at a reduced rate. Its quite a set up at Chainbridge Honey Farm and well worth a visit. The whole family are involved in the day to day running of the business. Willie is a character if you have not met him. Hope you manage up to see it all one day.

bombus · « **Reply #13 on:** October 24, 2006, 13:42:07 »

My favorite must be Sea Lavender Honey,its strong tasting. I buy it when i go down to North Norfolk near the coast.

Field Bean Honey is a nice one too, i love the scent of the Beans when I'm working my bees, it makes a pleasant change after the smell of Oil Seed Rape.

Doe's anyone know how many Beekeepers log on to the site?

Regards to all, Bombus

triffid · « **Reply #14 on:** October 24, 2006, 13:57:36 »

Bombus, I don't think anyone could know since not a lot of personal info gets into the admin records.

I think quite a few of A4A's beekeepers are posting on here, though :D

So far I've spotted four...
me
Robert_Brenchley
Toadspawn
and you!

Barnowl · « **Reply #15 on:** October 24, 2006, 14:06:21 »

Thyme honey - it's almost savoury.

triffid · « **Reply #16 on:** October 24, 2006, 18:56:47 »

Barnowl -- Greek thyme honey?

I had it once, years and years ago and would probably like it much better now than I did. As I remember, it has an almost medicinal aroma. Is that right?

Robert_Brenchley · « **Reply #17 on:** October 24, 2006, 19:31:27 »

It would do; thymol is a mild disinfectant which turns up in Listerine mouthwash and all sorts of things. I use it to kill mites, and loathe the smell!

triffid · « **Reply #18 on:** October 24, 2006, 19:35:26 »

Actually, I was given a bottle of thymol earlier in summer by a Polish beekeeper. Apparently it's used a lot there as an anti-varroa therapy. Unfortunately, I didn't quite understand the instructions, so I haven't tried it on them yet.
Will be meeting other members of our BK association next week, so will ask around!

Robert_Brenchley · « **Reply #19 on:** October 25, 2006, 09:40:15 »

It's quite simple to use, though it's a bit late in the year now. I've just done a thymol treatment, using Apiguard, which is a commercial preparation. In any other year, it would have been too cold for it to work.

http://www.stratford-upon-avon.freeserve.co.uk/PENotes/VarroaTreatment.htm

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Author Topic: If you like honey, what sort do you like best? (Read 8758 times)