# Honey Testing Question



## rdfkentucky (Mar 28, 2016)

I extracted my first honey and was curious about having it tested to see what the bees have been bring in. I've search for this but not coming up with anything. Does anybody know of a lab or how to go about having my honey tested to see what % of the different wildflowers in it? It's a little dark to some of the other honey I have bought.

Thanks
Rick


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## giarc18 (Mar 25, 2015)

I could be wrong, but I don't think that is possible.
That's why it's called wildflower honey. Could be from anything..

I bet one of them CSI shows could figure it out though.


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## Branman (Aug 20, 2003)

I think you can check pollen under a slide to get some idea as to what was brought in.


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## PeterP (Feb 5, 2014)

It is done by identifying the pollen in the honey and assuming the proportion of a given pollen represents a similar proportion of nectar collected. Not a valid assumption but good enough for marketing and bragging rights.

Here is an article on how one person does it.

http://www.life.illinois.edu/ib/109/Lab/Honey%20and%20wax/Honey_typing_by_pollen_analysis.doc

A few years ago the university of Montreal had a person asking beekeepers to send in samples of honey and the beekeepers expectation of what plants it came from so she could build up a pollen reference library. No idea what happened. Probably a PHD or Masters report.

Regards Peter

This is a good article as well.
http://www.umf.org.nz/wp-content/myimages/2017/02/Molan-1998-Pollen-in-honey.pdf


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## giarc18 (Mar 25, 2015)

PeterP said:


> It is done by identifying the pollen in the honey and assuming the proportion of a given pollen represents a similar proportion of nectar collected. Not a valid assumption but good enough for marketing and bragging rights.
> 
> Here is an article on how one person does it.
> 
> ...


Okay, I guess I WAS wrong. 
It is possible.
I suppose a better response from me would have been, is it really "necessary"?
Maybe for your own personal curiosity, but I doubt many customers are going to care about percentages .
They'll simply tell you "yours is the best honey they've ever had". 
And that's good enough for me.
Keep it simple, In my opinion.
Isn't that what people really want when buying your honey.? 
Simple goodness 
Not a bunch of science..

G.


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## AstroBee (Jan 3, 2003)

Testing honey in North Carolina is not that unusual. Beekeepers are trying to determine the percent sourwood in their crop. I spoke to one guy who had a score of 90% in his 2016 crop. Certified sourwood commands a good price.


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## Nabber86 (Apr 15, 2009)

giarc18 said:


> I suppose a better response from me would have been, is it really "necessary"?
> Maybe for your own personal curiosity, but I doubt many customers are going to care about
> 
> G.


There was a lot of talk a while back about Chinese honey being ultra filtered to remove all pollen so that it was impossible to tell where it came from. So it is doable, but you would have to have an expert who knows what all of the different kinds pollen look like under a microscope. Kind of like how a paleontologist can identify all kinds of micro fossils under a microscope. 

It would be interesting to know what types and amounts of pollen are in your honey, but why bother? It changes throughout the year and season to season. A one time test would only give you a single data point. You would need several samples tested at different times of the seasons and repeat the sampling for several years in a row to get a fairly good baseline of what is coming in and at what time of year in your area. I don't know how much a test would cost, but my guess is that it would get really expensive to do this. Local knowledge from long-term beekeepers who know what is blooming and when, and what the bees forage on and when would probably be be just as valuable.


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## vdotmatrix (Apr 5, 2014)

Your question ... you are either talking about nectar or pollen...you can innumerate the pollens with microscopy...the nectar I suppose you could use IR spec or perhaps GC mas spec and compare CHO or polysachaide signatures......that info is probably already available for you area....


rdfkentucky said:


> I extracted my first honey and was curious about having it tested to see what the bees have been bring in. I've search for this buYou rt not coming up with anything. Does anybody know of a lab or how to go about having my honey tested to see what % of the different wildflowers in it? It's a little dark to some of the other honey I have bought.
> 
> Thanks
> Rick


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## Eikel (Mar 12, 2014)

Isn't PURE an acronym for Proportionally Unknown, Recently Extracted? Also best when produced by pedigree mutt breeds.


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## Tenbears (May 15, 2012)

A1200 X microscope and pollen charts tell the story. Of the some 600 charts be sure to get one for your area. We have the equipment But rarely use it anymore. We discovered that honey must contain better than 50% of the labeled crop nectar. Add to that we quite frequently found pollen from plants known not to produce nectar. So finding the highest percentage of pollen from a plant that does not produce nectar, does not mean it is that plants honey. Bees quite often gather pollen from a plant that is easy to harvest and nectar from one that may have pollen difficult to harvest. after all the purpose nectar is to attract bees to the blooms so they can transport pollen to other plants. Those with the least pollen need the most help and generally produce nectar to attract that help. Just saying.


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