# Dark vs light honey



## alblancher (Mar 3, 2011)

Interesting questions. I know our late season goldenrod honey tastes like sulpher rich molasses. My mentor says it's full of minerals and nutrients and really good for the bees to overwinter with but alot of consumers will find it a bit overpowering. Our privet honey is highly prized for it's light color and taste but doesn't get past the beek's family. You know for personal use you can always mix it to the taste you appreciate and get the best of all seasons! I have never heard of differing strains of bees selecting different pollen, nectar sources but there is still so much to learn from the members of this forum.


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

It may be healthier, but not enough to matter if it's taste is an impairment. A friend of mine just brought me an eight 0z jar of some dark leafy spurge honey. It is a lifetime supply for me no matter how healthy it is! Sell the dark stuff to beer brewers and mead makers. Dark strong honey tends to makes better ingredients for that use.


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

yikes, leafy spurge, 
do you take it like cough syrup ? lol


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## jdawdy (May 22, 2012)

When I was in the Middle East I read about some of the varieties of honey they have. The darker honeys seem to have a higher mineral and vitamin content. How much that relates to the plant as opposed to the color of the honey (ie. Dark honey from plant A as opposed to dark honey from plant B) I can't say.


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

Nutrition has to do with want is lacking in your diet if we are talking about food. If you are substituting honey for an artificial sweetner the honey will be more nutritious, dark or light. Honey will most likely be more nutritious than cane sugar because honey has other things in it. On the other side of the coin honey could give you allergic reactions because of the other things in it. I think you would have a hard time measuring the nutritional difference between light and dark honey but it would depend on the person rather than if the honey was dark or light in general.


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## Bizzybee (Jan 29, 2006)

Honey comes in many varying flavors and colors. And color doesn't always dictate the flavors. Darker honeys do tend to have a stronger flavor in general but not always. What's in the honey is going to be dictated by the plant providing the nectar and speculations can be made all day long. But to know for sure whats happening will mean taking the honey for analysis. I'm sure many honeys have already been tested and you may be able to find the results with some diligent web searches. But I doubt one race of bees is likely to produce honey any different from another, given they are working the same sources. Just MHO.


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

So! You have tasted it Mr. Steppler! Good stuff EH?


Ian said:


> yikes, leafy spurge,
> do you take it like cough syrup ? lol


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## libhart (Apr 22, 2010)

leafy spurge? Had to look that one up....sounds like a medical condition.


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

We have lots of that stuff here, but luckily the bees prefer the clovers and alfalfa when it becomes available. 

Had a neighbour tell me one year, he had a couyple yards beside a full quarter section of the stuff, without any thing else in bloom. Nice rain and 8-10 barrels later of the stuff.
Nobody would take it, 
I think he ended up feeding it back to the bees in the end,


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## wildbranch2007 (Dec 3, 2008)

Even honey made from the nectar from some spurges is mildly poisonous. Sheep are able to eat leafy spurge, so they are being used in biological control ...


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## ericweller (Jan 10, 2013)

I saw a news report last year of some bees in France (?) that were feeding on the candy left outside a M&M factory. Their honey was black. 
They didn't say how it tasted but I can't imagine there would be much of a market for black honey.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>Does a darker honey have a higher content of nutrients, proteins and enzymes than a lighter honey?
>Would my buckwheat be better than my fireweed honey from a nutritional standpoint?

Darker honey has been shown to have more antioxidants. Otherwise, I don't know of any research on the subject. There may be some if you look.

>Do strains of bees influence honey nutrition content? Say my Russians vs Italians vs Carniolan?

No.


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## JonnyBeeGood (Aug 2, 2012)

Is the darker honey typically found in the late Summer & Fall ?
Here in Connecticut my Girls filled up a super with rich dark honey which didn't smell at all like goldenrod. It had a nice amber color when held to the light and tasted delicious. My customers loved it and couldn't get enough of it. After some research and a little investigating I found a decent amount of Japanese Knotwood around and it resembles the Red Bamboo honey I've read about. 
I also found that it holds a high level of antioxidants.


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

Michael Bush said:


> >
> >Would my buckwheat be better than my fireweed honey from a nutritional standpoint?


Buckwheat certainly tastes like it has a higher content of nutrients in it, lol


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