Closing Purple Honey sales Nov 30th. Remaining supply is low and wont last long.
Dees Bees Apiarys Purple Honey Musings
The Facts of Purple Honey- as I see them
Purple honey, the good stuff, is produced in the Sandhills of North Carolina. Many say, it's the only place in earth that this mystery of nature is found. While some may disagree, when challenged to produce purple honey, no one can seem to come up with the purple stuff that meets the three distinct criteria of the real purple honey. First off, true purple honey, that produced in the Sandhills, is fairly tangy. I have my ideas why that is, but we will save that for later. Secondly, it is very sweet. While raw honey is naturally 25% sweeter than granular cane sugar, this purple honey seems to be considerably sweeter. Lastly, but definitely not the least, the purple honey has a distinct fruity flavor. Something slightly familiar, but also something that you just cant put your finger on.
Ive tasted several versions of OTHER east coast purple honey, but none compare to that produced in the Sandhills.
A few other lesser known facts about the purple is that it is a bit thinner than normal honey. It doesnt have that thick slow to pour consistency.
Although regular honey has an indefinite shelflife, the purple stuff, in some cases, seems to begin to lose its color and flavor at about 4 to 6 months, the darker, richer stuff is known to last over a year or so.
Having grown up around bees and honey, i recall seeing individual cells of what was called Blue Honey, back in the day when i was a teen travelling to Moore County to help with the bees throughout the Spring and Summer. Today, it has taken on a life of it's own it seems and is mostly identified as Purple Honey.
The Kudzu Myth
I can't even begin to count the number of times ive heard someone say oh, thats kudzu honey.
Well folks, kudzu was an imported plant from Asia to help with erosion control, supposedly.
Well, to my limited knowledge, no one ever reported purple honey in Asia.
Many people believe that because the bloom of the kudzu is purple, that MUST be the source of the purple honey.
Unfortunately for that theory, there is NO kudzu within the flying distance for a honeybee, anywhere near where my purple honey was produced.
Another point to make is that even if there were kudzu in the area, it hadnt bloomed when my purple was produced. Muscadine grapes another favorite supposed source, were still green when my purple was produced.
There are only a few things that are likely sources, in my thoughts, and ill save that for later.
Dees Bees Thoughts on the Source of the Purple Honey
If purple honey shows up during the time of season when there are no blooming plants for the bees (dearth), can it really be from a blooming plant? Maybe there are other sweet options the bees have discovered, that are not bloom/ nectar based.
Maybe its not a flower at all.
Deep in the bottomlands and swamp bays of the sandhills, there are other plant based foods for the bees. I imagine that a bee would have to be pretty hard up for food to hit something other than a flower. During Jul/ Aug in the sandhills, the conditions are right for just that. A food aggressive bee with no traditional food to be found, but what else is there. Berries and not just any berry. Grapes are still green, blackberries are long gone, kudzu is nonexistent, elderberries are here yet and if so, theyre still green, poke week berries arent edible...whats left?
Huckleberries, a wild berry not too unlike a blueberry, are quite proliferative in the area along with pretty popular backyard blueberries. The difference, the huckleberries root systems seem to love a clay base soil, just like the sourwood, which is frequently associated with the purple honey.
The association in my mind has three points.
Partially filled cells of sourwood, yeah we dont make enough of that in the sandhills to have a claim to fame over it, but packing purple on top of partially filled cells could provide the source of the tanginess for the purple.
Proximity, the sourwood and huckleberry to tend to grow in similar soil types.