# how to buy honey



## Antero (Jan 9, 2005)

timmy; have a look

http://www.beesource.com/pov/usda/amhoney2.htm

There are 300 different kinds of honey. The lighter the honey the better it tastes. The darker the honey, the bitter it tastes. The darker honey comes from dandelions. 

The most well known and abundant honey is the multi-floral or polyflora honey, which is a mixture of the nectar from different flowers.


Terry


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## GaSteve (Apr 28, 2004)

>The lighter the honey the better it tastes.

I would beg to differ, but everyone's tastes are different. Generally it's like beer, the darker it is, the more flavor it has (there are exceptions of course). I would compare clover honey to light beer and buckwheat honey to a good stout with everything else in between.


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## Jim Fischer (Jan 5, 2001)

> The lighter the honey the better it tastes.

I also disagree. Firmly. The color of honey
has nothing to do with the taste, and as GaSteve
points out, the darker honey is most often
the honey with an actual "flavor" that most
people can detect.


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## Star G (Mar 8, 2005)

Well.....I have to "ditto" Jim and GaSteve and add that some of my bees' honey which is Very Dark Amber is amazingly light-flavored and preferred by many of my customers. Further, I have tasted some Extra Light Amber (near white) honey which would pucker your persimmon for you! I agree with GaSteve that folks' preferences in honey tastes are comparable to tastes in wine or beer. Some like white, some like dark -- and some like one white but not another and also with the darker colors. And, finally, I think the number of varieties of honey is virtually infinite. When one considers all the possible combinations of nectars from different sources, there is no end to the varities of what we usually call "wildflower" honeys.
"Good honey - Bad honey"?? Well, generally speaking, you don't get "bad honey" unless you adulterate it with something or burn it -- and even burned, the caramelization of honey is sometimes deliberately done by gourmet chefs -- with some delightful results. In my strongly-held opinion, honey should NEVER be adulterated with ANYTHING!!! -- not even "flavors", although I admit to loving a certain mixture of honey with truly raw-processed peanut butter.

I have a jar of honey, still sealed, which was packed by a well-known Texas packer about 50 years ago. The label says "Pure Clover Honey", which we all know is a very light-colored honey. But after sitting on a shelf in a little country store for about 45 years, the honey is as dark as I have ever seen. I haven't opened it but probably will someday, just out of curiosity. I paid the original price of 47 cents for the 12-ounce queenline jar and the old grocer in Maxwell, NM seemed happy to have FINALLY sold that jar!! Tee-hee 

There are cases on record of archaeologists finding honey sealed in amphora and declaring that, after 2000-some years, it was still palatable. I'd sure like to get a gallon or two of it!! Strict provenience required and I'll pay 47 cents per pound, since the original merchant hasn't been able to sell it for so long.......

Advice to timmy: Find a nearby beekeeper and get a bucket of his honey as it comes from the extractor.....or a bucket which he put up last honey season. Get it as near to right-out-of-the-comb as you can. Someone in your state might be actually bringing in some early honey now or in April.


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## timmy (Mar 16, 2005)

thanks a lot for the help


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