Honey

Honey is a sweet and viscous fluid produced by bees and other insects from the nectar of flowers. "The definition of honey stipulates a pure product that does not allow for the addition of any other substance. This includes, but is not limited to, water or other sweeteners," according the United States National Honey Board 2003 and other nations' food regulations.

Types of honey

The flavor and color of the substance is largely determined by the nectar source. Common flavors of honey include orange blossom honey, tupelo honey, buckwheat honey, clover honey, blackberry, and blueberry honey. In Australia, the most common honey is from the eucalyptus trees, such as redgum, yellow gum and stringybark. Tasmanian leatherwood honey is considered a delicacy for its unique flavor.

Related Topics:
Nectar source - Orange blossom - Tupelo - Buckwheat - Clover - Blackberry - Blueberry - Australia - Eucalyptus - Yellow gum - Stringybark - Tasmania - Leatherwood - Delicacy

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While it is rare for any honey to be produced exclusively from one floral source, honey will take on the flavor of the dominant flower in the region. Orange blossom, tupelo, and sourwood are favored types in the United States. Greece is famous for wild thyme honey, as is France for lavender and acacia honey.

Related Topics:
Tupelo - Sourwood - Greece - Wild thyme - France - Lavender - Acacia

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In 2005, New Zealand had 320,000 beehives that produced an average annual crop of 8,600 tonnes of honey. These honeys cover a huge range of flavour types and properties. From mild to very strong flavoured, light to dark coloured, delicately perfumed to pungent and even honeys with significant antibacterial properties.

Related Topics:
New Zealand - Beehives

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Most commercially available honey is blended. Monofloral honeys are especially valuable on the market. New Zealand is a major producer of several of these fine monofloral honeys: Viper's Bugloss Honey, Nodding Thistle Honey, Kamahi Honey, Honeydew Honey, Tawari Honey, Rewarewa Honey or Thyme Honey. Another is Rata Honey, considered by many to be the best of New Zealand Honeys. It is very white in colour, has a subtle, mild yet rich and distinctive flavour - not overly sweet, almost salty.

Related Topics:
Viper's Bugloss - Nodding Thistle - Kamahi - Honeydew - Tawari - Rewarewa - Thyme - Rata

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Honeydew

Instead of taking nectar, bees can take honeydew, which appears similar to honey and consists of the sweet secretions of aphids or other plant sap-sucking insects. Most important of these is the aphid Marchalina hellenica which feeds on the sap of the Turkish Pine. Honeydew from pine forests has a "piney" taste and is prized for medicinal use in Europe and Turkey. Bees collecting this resource have to be fed protein supplements, as honeydew lacks the protein-rich pollen accompaniment gathered from flowers.

Related Topics:
Aphids - Marchalina hellenica - Turkish Pine - Europe - Turkey

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In New Zealand honeydew nectar is produced from a small, scale insect (Ultracoelostoma assimile) living in the bark of two of New Zealand's beech forests, mostly black beech (black from the sooty mould growing on the surplus nectar covering the trunks and branches) and to a lesser extent, red beech. In the early morning sunlight, the droplets of nectar glisten like the morning dew, giving the name honeydew.

Related Topics:
Honeydew - Black beech - Red beech

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Germany's "Black Forest" is a well known source of honeydew produced honeys.

Related Topics:
Germany - Black Forest

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Honeydew honey has full flavour aroma, is heady, almost pungent and malty with a thick red amber color.

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Honeydew has strong markets in some areas, but in many areas beekeepers are disappointed with a honeydew crop as they are unable to market the stronger flavored product. Honeydew has a much larger proportion of indigestibles than light honeys, which can cause dysentery resulting in the death of colonies in areas with cold winters. Good beekeeping management requires the removal of honeydew prior to winter in colder areas.

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