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  1. #1

    Default Dark honey

    Does anyone know the flower source, or production processes that give dark honey? My local association members seem only to get clear golden honey, yet in bee magazines I generally see a range from gold the dark brown. Not being a tasting judge, I have never tasted the dark stuff (no - not the stuff down the pub).

  2. #2
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    Bell heather and Hawthorn are the two that come to mind instantly.

    PH

  3. #3

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    As a honey judge I find most of the dark honey I get to taste is mainly derived from honeydew with bell heather the next most frequent source. Hawthorn honey is wonderful but I rarely encounter it.

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    Senior Member Bridget's Avatar
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    Chestnut. Very dark and not to my taste but my husband loves it. We had it in Corsica


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

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    Had Hawthorn once from an OSR site but the blasted bees had surrounded it with OSR... argh... looked really odd uncapped, this light honey with an oval dark centre. There were Hawthorn trees from an old fence line that the farm had left alone. Gorgeous taste though.

    PH

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    Senior Member Adam's Avatar
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    One year one colony only got a few frames of a really dark honey - almost black - which I assumed to be honeydew. It was, I believe, July/August when it came in. Very strongly-flavoured too. No other colony collected it. Sold well with customers asking for more, however I have never seen it since.

  7. #7

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    In 2016 I had a small crop of honeydew that I quite enjoyed, nice dark strong & sweet tasting from a local pine forest. Flavour was a strong bland affair had as expected very sweet. By early July the colony was still building up from a late May swarm collected, come early Sept there was 15 odd lbs of the very dark honey which took about 7 months to set.
    Last edited by nellyp; 16-01-2018 at 09:51 PM.

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    Senior Member Greengage's Avatar
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    Honeydew comes from the waste of Aphids, I just cannot go there, no nectar involved there?

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    Senior Member Adam's Avatar
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    Insect juice honey doesn't sound that appealing I agree!

    Although honey is ingested and then regurgitated with stomach-stuff added to make into honey. And we like it!

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    Quote Originally Posted by Greengage View Post
    Honeydew comes from the waste of Aphids, I just cannot go there, no nectar involved there?
    From an article on honey composition in the beefarmers magazine a while back it seems lots of London honey doesn't involve nectar either. They were finding lost of C3(?) sugars which suggested that the bees are "foraging" on sweet drinks/ice cream or anything with sugar in it.

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