Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => RAPID BEEYARD GROWTH => Topic started by: lisnnbeerawhoney on March 21, 2012, 03:24:16 pm
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:bee: What does almond honey taste like? I,m a small bee keeper in st george ut and curious on what I should expect when I pollenate almonds . thaks Peter
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If I remember correctly, Almond trees don't produce much nectar but do produce pollen. I've never pollinated them but someone who did explained to me a long time ago that keeping bees in pollen was something of a setback for the bees because of little nectar.
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I have been told that almond honey is very bitter & best left for the bees.
...JP
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I have heard the same as JP, not saying I'm not willing to give it a try at least once. :) I am actually looking forward to this season because I have a health food store that wants to sell my honey and if I can manage to get it, I plan to plant some poison oak in shallow trays to put around one of my colonies. The health food store told me that loggers will pay top dollar for it to help with immunities. Not sure of the validity of the claim but I'm willing to give it a try.
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I've tried it and thought it was pretty good. It had a slight taste of almond and was a light amber grade. It came from a friend who had his bees in the almonds for pollination though and I'm not sure how much of what I was tasting was actually almond honey/feed/leftover honey.
Scott
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I tried almond honey from 1 of my hives 2 weeks ago when they came back from pollinating almonds. The honey tastes TERRIBLE! I had to spit it out it was so bad. Very bitter, not the expected sweet flavor. I crushed and strained a small jar just so a few of my friends could share my experience. My girlfriend said it tasted like burnt caramel. Others got this weird look on their face, kind of like the one a person makes when expecting something sweet, and it's sour instead. It was a good laugh. There is no market for this honey. The bees don't care, so let them keep it. My experience this year with almonds was the REALLY big hives drew new wax and were loaded with almond honey. Anything else just maintained weight. At least they didnt go backwards this year.
Wisnewbee
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A bee keeper brought a squeeze bear of almond honey as a treat to our local bee meeting . God it was AWFUL! Everybody was expecting some marzipan -type treat and instead it was WRETCHED. Great for the bees - let them have it!
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I have heard the same as JP, not saying I'm not willing to give it a try at least once. :) I am actually looking forward to this season because I have a health food store that wants to sell my honey and if I can manage to get it, I plan to plant some poison oak in shallow trays to put around one of my colonies. The health food store told me that loggers will pay top dollar for it to help with immunities. Not sure of the validity of the claim but I'm willing to give it a try.
If it does help then I'll be producing poison ivy honey for sure. When I moved into my current home every tree had a 3-4" poison ivy vine growing up it. Those have been cut, but I am still constantly pulling out baby vines all over my yard.
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I am not familiar with poison ivy or if it flowers. I am immune to poison oak so it'll be a fun experience. I will also try lavender. I hear the french got some good honey from their bees on lavender and its supposed to be really good for the bees too.