Sour wood honey

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

Never heard of it until today.  A lady from the central east coast told me it's "something really special".

 

Have any of you tried this and where can I buy some?  (I'm sort of honeyaholic.)

 

 

 

                                    

 

 

                           

 

 

 

 

                     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Subdeacon Joe]

https://beeswiki.com/sourwood-honey/#:~:text=Sourwood honey has a flavour,and is slow to crystallize.

 

"Sourwood honey has a flavour palate which includes notes of caramel, anise, maple, and spice."

 

https://ashevillebeecharmer.com/sourwood-honey/

 

"Sourwood honey tastes like buttery caramel and has a beautiful amber color. The aftertaste has a slight twang that has been likened to gingerbread. Sour honey smells like cinnamon and cloves and has a smooth and syrupy texture."

 

 

https://www.adagiobees.com/honey-sourwood.html

 

$19 for 12 oz.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

https://www.etsy.com/listing/964353589/sourwood-honey-raw-north-carolina?gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_us_all&utm_custom1=_k_CjwKCAiAm-67BhBlEiwAEVftNiSMQJsASgWa2Mtxim-_4fKR08sRd1es2K-rY8xzbtyY7_bkGXDsLRoCl8YQAvD_BwE_k_&utm_content=go_21792313656_163918384690_716644610803_pla-293946777986_c__964353589_12768591&utm_custom2=21792313656&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADtcfRI15OBdMBsZltq8yb5RR9vgm&gclid=CjwKCAiAm-67BhBlEiwAEVftNiSMQJsASgWa2Mtxim-_4fKR08sRd1es2K-rY8xzbtyY7_bkGXDsLRoCl8YQAvD_BwE
 

And a few more places

[watab kid]

nope , but i like honey , id give it a go 

[watab kid]

ok = you had me up to the cloves....they close my throat and make me gag , all the rest i can take/accept with open arms , not foing this i guess 

[Subdeacon Joe]

2 hours ago, watab kid said:

ok = you had me up to the cloves....they close my throat and make me gag , all the rest i can take/accept with open arms , not foing this i guess 

 

No cloves in it. That's just some the natural aroma.

[Stump Water]

[sidebar]

 

A co-worker moved from South Dakota to North Carolina.  She'd lived in SD all her life.  Come spring time in NC she was exposed to pollens/allergens that she'd never been exposed to before, and her reaction was awful.  I told her to get some local, RAW honey and have a spoonful every day.  Two weeks later she was all cleared up.

 

[/sidebar]

[Blackwater 53393]

Sourwood honey is much richer and darker than your usual clover honey!  It has a stronger flavor profile, somewhat akin to molasses in intensity.

 

I absolutely love the stuff, but it’s not easy to find in most places.

 

Haven’t checked AMAZON lately, but that’s where I would start.

 

Come to think of it…

[Rye Miles #13621]

Learn sumthin new everyday! I’ll have to seek out some now! 🤠

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

On Amazon. Other one I found is on Etsy.

 

[Sedalia Dave]

What is Sourwood Honey

[watab kid]

17 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

 

No cloves in it. That's just some the natural aroma.

how do ya get the aroma without the cloves ?

[Subdeacon Joe]

1 minute ago, watab kid said:

how do ya get the aroma without the cloves ?

 

The same way the bees get the cinnamon aroma into it.  From what I quoted:

"Sour honey smells like cinnamon and cloves and has a smooth and syrupy texture."

 

I suspect that it's a characteristic of the sourwood nectar.  But that's just an uninformed WAG.

 

 

[watab kid]

15 minutes ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

 

The same way the bees get the cinnamon aroma into it.  From what I quoted:

"Sour honey smells like cinnamon and cloves and has a smooth and syrupy texture."

 

I suspect that it's a characteristic of the sourwood nectar.  But that's just an uninformed WAG.

 

 

OK , i guess i can see that , i know very little of bees , i had a friend that was a beekeeper but havnt seen him in a couple years , if i do ill quiz him on that , thanks for responding to my questions and comments , 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

It must be a bit of a challenge to be sure the bees don’t get into something like a clover patch.

[Stump Water]

13 hours ago, watab kid said:

how do ya get the aroma without the cloves

 

Same way you get all those "hints" of this, that and the other in a single malt or bottle of wine.

[Sedalia Dave]

54 minutes ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

It must be a bit of a challenge to be sure the bees don’t get into something like a clover patch.

 

Read the link I posted. 

[Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001]

that bottle looks a mite light on color to me 

 

  CB 

[Subdeacon Joe]

1 hour ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

It must be a bit of a challenge to be sure the bees don’t get into something like a clover patch.

 

 

From the Beeswiki link above:

 

"In order to produce sourwood honey excellent care from beekeeper is required. This is due to sourwood trees blooming late in the season after many other species that share their region have finished. Yet there are some species like sumac trees that bloom just before the sourwood does.

Unless the hives are placed at the last possible moment and wholly cleared of honeycombs with honey from other sources, the result of the forage will be a polyfloral honey. Sourwood grows in a very narrow habitat, and its flowers’ nectar yield is extremely sensitive to rainfall and cold temperatures.

If the sourwood flowers don’t produce enough nectar, the bees will forage other species and produce a polyfloral honey. "

[MizPete]

On 1/7/2025 at 11:59 AM, Blackwater 53393 said:

Sourwood honey is much richer and darker than your usual clover honey!

No, Sugar, it is not.  Sourwood is light and delicate - if you're buying a dark honey, it ain't sourwood.  It's absolutely my favorite.

[Cheatin Charlie]

It might be good but does it have a song named after it?

 

 

 

[Blackwater 53393]

The last I got was from a certified producer. On two occasions, it was darker and rich. Another time it was bright gold!  The man told me that the color varied with the way the season went.

 

Same outfit all three times. Just different trips in different years. I do love the flavor, but I haven’t been out that way in a few years.  If I can find one of the jars, I’m gonna see if I can order some.

 

Has anyone tried mesquite honey?? 

[watab kid]

9 hours ago, Stump Water said:

 

Same way you get all those "hints" of this, that and the other in a single malt or bottle of wine.

i guess i can see that comparison , even tho im no coinsure  , i get that - never thought about it with honey 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Some people have very sensitive taste buds and noses and can detect such things, most of us are average in that regard, just enough to say, “I like it.”

 

And some poeple really don't have much for taste buds or sense of smell.   My father lost his sense of smell in an industrial accident. How bad? he caught some blue fish and had them frozen and forgot them in the trunk of his wife's car for a week or so. As for sense of taste, after ww2 he ate all meals in 5 minutes or less.

 

 

Edited January 9 by Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984

[MizPete]

On 1/8/2025 at 4:09 PM, Blackwater 53393 said:

On two occasions, it was darker and rich. Another time it was bright gold!  The man told me that the color varied with the way the season went.

Never heard this.  All my life, I've never bought a dark-colored jar - old "wisdom" said if it was dark, they were adding molasses or dark corn syrup to it.  Thanks, Tommy - now I don't know how to buy it!

[Blackwater 53393]

Miss Bobbie!!  Locate a “certified” bee keeper!  I don’t recall who the gentleman I bought from. It’s been a while. He was up around Boone, NC, not far off the Blue Ridge Pkwy!!

 

Try to avoid the Rhododendron honey!!  That stuff will mess up your day!! 🙄🤪

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

3 minutes ago, Blackwater 53393 said:

Miss Bobbie!!  Locate a “certified” bee keeper!  I don’t recall who the gentleman I bought from. It’s been a while. He was up around Boone, NC, not far off the Blue Ridge Pkwy!!

 

Try to avoid the Rhododendron honey!!  That stuff will mess up your day!! 🙄🤪

Quote

Mad honey

Mad honey is honey that contains grayanotoxins. The dark, reddish honey is produced from the nectar and pollenof genus Rhododendron and has intoxicating effects.

Mad honey is produced principally in Nepal and Turkey, where it is used as a traditional medicine and recreational drug. In the Hindu Kush Himalayanrange, it is produced by Himalayan giant honey bees (Apis laboriosa). Honey hunting in Nepal has been traditionally performed by the Gurung people. The honey can also be found rarely in the eastern United States.

Historical accounts of mad honey are found in Ancient Greek texts. The Greek military leader Xenophon wrote in his Anabasis about the effects of mad honey on soldiers in 401 BCE. In 65 BCE, during the Third Mithridatic War, King Mithridates used mad honey as a biological weapon against Roman soldiers under General Pompey. During the 18th century, mad honey was imported to Europe where it was added to alcoholic beverages.

From Wikipedia 

[MizPete]

I've never even seen Rhododendron honey.  Always look for the Sourwood.  And yes, the source(s) is the NC mountains.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

8 hours ago, MizPete said:

I've never even seen Rhododendron honey.  Always look for the Sourwood.  And yes, the source(s) is the NC mountains.

You don’t want to either

[Dirty Dan Dawkins]

When I was into bee keeping, we sorted honey by color. I never bothered to figure what color indicated ( nectar source)

but we’d get red, amber, golden and I almost black as molasses colored honeys. The darker the honey, the stronger it was and dark honey was good on pancakes and biscuits just as syrup and molasses are. 
We do have a limited amount of sourwood trees here (1 hr East and slightly south in latitude of Atlanta) but not like N Georgia 

Cotton and orange (trees) honey is pretty good.

Edited January 11 by Dirty Dan Dawkins