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Date: 13 Jul 2006 01:36:10
From: Dick Adams
Subject: Correction on Wildflower honey
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I recently wrote that I had not noticed a flavor differnce in
Wildflower honey vs Clover honey. This was based on making
Mead with two gallons of Wildflower I pruchased from a beekeeper
about three years ago. I crack open a 5-gal pail of Wildflower
I purchased from Dutch Gold. The Mead I made is now 5 months
old and the high ane fuesal taste is gone. It has a very
distintive taste. I suspect the beekeeper just labelled what
he had as Wildflower.
Dick
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Date: 13 Jul 2006 13:48:55
From: Joel
Subject: Re: Correction on Wildflower honey
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Dick Adams <rdadams@smart.net > wrote:
>I recently wrote that I had not noticed a flavor differnce in
>Wildflower honey vs Clover honey. This was based on making
>Mead with two gallons of Wildflower I pruchased from a beekeeper
>about three years ago. I crack open a 5-gal pail of Wildflower
>I purchased from Dutch Gold. The Mead I made is now 5 months
>old and the high ane fuesal taste is gone. It has a very
>distintive taste. I suspect the beekeeper just labelled what
>he had as Wildflower.
From talking to some beekeepers, including the people
in the Entomology department here, I've concluded that
the terms "clover" and "wildflower" are both code words
for "the bees were in an indistinct flora region." In
others words, both are generic honeys with no single
identifiable character and a huge potential variation in
flavor.
FWIW, the honey the entomologists sell is just called
"honey," though they say from the location of the hives
it's probably more soybean than anything else. (I think
it tastes good and fairly plain, but with a bit more of
a sharp character than most other honeys I've tasted.)
--
Joel Plutchak "Never argue with a fool; people watching might not
plutchak at [...] be able to tell the difference." (author unknown)
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Date: 13 Jul 2006 05:17:53
From: John 'Shaggy' Kolesar
Subject: Re: Correction on Wildflower honey
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On Thu, 13 Jul 2006 01:36:10 -0000, <rdadams@smart.net > wrote:
> I recently wrote that I had not noticed a flavor differnce in
> Wildflower honey vs Clover honey. This was based on making
> Mead with two gallons of Wildflower I pruchased from a beekeeper
> about three years ago. I crack open a 5-gal pail of Wildflower
> I purchased from Dutch Gold. The Mead I made is now 5 months
> old and the high ane fuesal taste is gone. It has a very
> distintive taste. I suspect the beekeeper just labelled what
> he had as Wildflower.
Maybe they were wild clover flowers? ;)
John.
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Date: 14 Jul 2006 19:51:13
From: Tom The Great
Subject: Re: Correction on Wildflower honey
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On Thu, 13 Jul 2006 01:36:10 -0000, rdadams@smart.net (Dick Adams)
wrote:
>I recently wrote that I had not noticed a flavor differnce in
>Wildflower honey vs Clover honey. This was based on making
>Mead with two gallons of Wildflower I pruchased from a beekeeper
>about three years ago. I crack open a 5-gal pail of Wildflower
>I purchased from Dutch Gold. The Mead I made is now 5 months
>old and the high ane fuesal taste is gone. It has a very
>distintive taste. I suspect the beekeeper just labelled what
>he had as Wildflower.
>
>Dick
I was once told, it a beekeeper couldn't specificly tell what flowers
were used by the bees, then it's easier to call it 'wild flower'. So
you might have a mix of flowers, but have more of one type over the
others.
later,
tom @ www.NoCostAds.com
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Date: 14 Jul 2006 14:11:11
From: John Krehbiel
Subject: Re: Correction on Wildflower honey
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Joel wrote:
> From talking to some beekeepers, including the people
> in the Entomology department here, I've concluded that
> the terms "clover" and "wildflower" are both code words
> for "the bees were in an indistinct flora region."
Bees will collect the richest source available at any given time. The
predominant nectar source in a region may be one particular kind of
flower, or not. Often a particularly rich source will provide a huge
surplus at a particular season, and that's what gets collected and
sold.
Years ago I kept bees and the honey I got had a raisiny-spicy flavor. I
smelled the same flavor when I stood next to the tobacco counter at the
store. My beehives were only a couple of miles from the tobacco
research farm.
Of course, the entomologists swore that tobacco flowers are too deep
for honeybees to get nectar, but I also observed honeybees following
carpenter bees, which cut the flowers at the base, getting nectar they
couldn't usually reach.
In general though, when a single floral source is claimed, the
beekeeper is mostly guessing, and partly pulling your leg.
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Date: 14 Jul 2006 22:02:45
From: Todd
Subject: Re: Correction on Wildflower honey
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Many years ago My uncle kept bees. There was a grove of sourwood trees a
pretty good distance from, but within sight of my uncles front yard, and
when they started blooming , the bees would stop collecting any other type
of nector and make a bee-line for the sourwood trees.
My uncle would watch the bees, and when they started going to the sourwood
trees, he would empty the hive of all the other honey, which if I remember
correctly was clover honey, so that all the honey collected after that was
sourwood honey.
When the bees stopped going to the sourwood trees, he would empty the hive
again, and collect the sourwood honey.
My uncle said, and I believe that he knew, that bees will only collect one
type of honey at a time.
Todd
"John Krehbiel" <j_krehbiel@hotmail.com > wrote in message
news:1152911471.580488.11140@75g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
>
> Joel wrote:
> > From talking to some beekeepers, including the people
> > in the Entomology department here, I've concluded that
> > the terms "clover" and "wildflower" are both code words
> > for "the bees were in an indistinct flora region."
>
> Bees will collect the richest source available at any given time. The
> predominant nectar source in a region may be one particular kind of
> flower, or not. Often a particularly rich source will provide a huge
> surplus at a particular season, and that's what gets collected and
> sold.
>
> Years ago I kept bees and the honey I got had a raisiny-spicy flavor. I
> smelled the same flavor when I stood next to the tobacco counter at the
> store. My beehives were only a couple of miles from the tobacco
> research farm.
>
> Of course, the entomologists swore that tobacco flowers are too deep
> for honeybees to get nectar, but I also observed honeybees following
> carpenter bees, which cut the flowers at the base, getting nectar they
> couldn't usually reach.
>
> In general though, when a single floral source is claimed, the
> beekeeper is mostly guessing, and partly pulling your leg.
>
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