Honey opinions

[Woody Roberts]

Not getting much honey this year. The honey from the area here at home is primarily clover. It has that faint hay/ floral taste and is light golden in color.

The honey I took from Sparta last night is as near black as honey can get. Held to the light it's a dark chocolate brown but appears black under normal conditions.
It's delicious with a fruity taste.

Any idea what this could be from? If I knew I'd be planting some!

[tbonekel]

I visited Lambert's cafe in Ozark last week. Maybe your bees visited and picked them up some good ol' sorghum. That stuff is some good eatin'.

[brooksbeefarm]

I know what your talking about tbonekel, they can't throw those biscuits fast enough when i'm eating sorghum. . Woody the sumac has has been blooming for a while and some is just starting, i had honey like you described a bout 4 yrs. ago and i blamed it on sumac? but didn't really know for sure Jack

[Woody Roberts]

Jack
It can't be sumac. It's just starting to bloom there and this honey has been in the frames for a month. It was capped about halfway down and I kept waiting but they never capped it. None of the frames were full. I don't have a refractometer but it wouldent drip out. I'm certain it'll keep. The way this tastes it won't have to keep long.

While I've put out a little buckwheat before I've never tasted pure buckwheat honey. It's possible someone around has a food plot out but it was gathered too early for that I think.

I'm stumped, this stuff is the color of used motor oil. Doesn't taste the same though!

[Bamabww]

The honey I took from Sparta last night is as near black as honey can get. Held to the light it's a dark chocolate brown but appears black under normal conditions.
It's delicious with a fruity taste.

Woody, A friend of mine has 4 or 5 beehives right in the middle of the Bankhead National Forest in north Alabama with barely enough clearing for sunlight to hit his hives. His honey is just as you describe, dark like sorghum but very good tasting. I know his bees gather primarily from the forest, what I don't know, but there is not enough planted flowers around his house to supply that amount of honey.

He has said the same thing as you, "I don't keep it very long." It's delicious.

[Beeboy]

I bet it's black locust honey. That stuff is phenomal!

When you get rains up into June & now even July it can cause the black locust to bloom longer than usual and makes great honey. My brother keeps bees and he got some a few years ago. It will make a non beekeeper want to get into beekeeping just for the honey it is that good!

[Bamabww]

I bet it's black locust honey. That stuff is phenomal!

Beeboy,

Thanks for that info. Never thought of that but he's had plenty of rain in his area and I'm sure there are black locust there.

[Woody Roberts]

There may be black locust in the area. There's not any where I live, only honey locust. I see black locust along the hwy and in different places.

It's supposed to be excellent honey. I didn't know it was dark.

[brooksbeefarm]

I have black locust trees in my back yard and several south of the house around one bee yard, they bloom almost like clock work on May10th except this year they were early and hardly bloomed. In past years i've had a good flow off of them and it has always been light colored, almost clear looking and a flavor that would be hard to beat.The dark motor oil looking honey i had didn't last long, after my customers bought some they came to the house and bought several jars to stock up . I still have people ask if i'll have any more. Woody, if you find out what they made it from let me know, i put out about an acre of buckwheat every year (I need to disc it in now to get another bloom) so i'm sure that was part of my dark honey, but not all of it. Jack

[apisbees]

I need you to post a video of the honey. remove the lid from the jar and stick a tooth pick in about 1/2 way, pull it out 3 to 4 inches and video the honey as it piles back in to the jar. It should be a 1/8" stream when the honey hits the surface. Post this and I might be able to shed some light on it. Maybe not.

[Woody Roberts]

I looked up black locust honey and it appears to be light colored. All I have around the house is honey locust. Not the producer black locust is but the honey is very light, quite thick with a smooth taste.

Apis. I can barely post a picture. I don't even know how to take a video.

I didn't think there were many plants that could make black honey. Buckwheat is the only one I was aware of.

As to viscosity, on a scale of 1-10 with ten being thick I would rate this at 4.   Slightly thinner than average.

I think it has a grape taste, someone else said lemon. I know it's not either of those.

[apisbees]

It's time you learned to take video with your phone. once you figure it out you will have the skill for ever. 1st take video, 2nd post to Youtube, 3rd link the video to your post. There are lots on the forum that can guild you along the way. Riverbee, Iddee, Lazy, Perry, G3, Dave, Don, And many more can guide you and provide assistance. How wide is the band of dark honey in the supers are dose it fill complete supers?

[Woody Roberts]

It covers the entire super I believe. None of the frames are full. The four deep frames I took made 4 quarts. About what I would get from a medium. These were the fullest so I took them.

I suspect the other six frames has another gallon.