# sour wood honey



## suttonbeeman (Aug 22, 2003)

I hope you tasted the "real" sourwood honey. There is alot of honey sold as sourwood that is clover, gallberry, mixed flower and even imported. Pure sourwood honey sells for 15-20 dollars for a quart jar. There are alot of "crooked" packers/distributors who use sourwood name to sell their honey. One is located in North East Tennessee. SOurwood honey is made from the sourwood tree which is mostly in North west Ga, eastern Tn Western NC western Va and Eastern Ky. It blooms in late june/early july. Pure sourwood honey wont granulate and is very light in color. It has a very unique flavor.


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## okb (Apr 16, 2007)

http://home.howstuffworks.com/sourwood-tree.htm


Comes from sourwood tree. Not all trees will be forged by bees.


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## jaydee (Oct 12, 2004)

the honey i tasted was light in color and beginning to granulate. I suppose this was not the real stuff. 

By the picture of the tree I have never seen any in our area.


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## papa bear (Nov 1, 2005)

i agree with suttenbeeman. i hate the way the word sourwood honey is thrown about. sour wood is a lot like mountain doo, you have to know where and who it come from. we just talked at our bee club tonight, about taking the supers off first of june and then taking those off about july( according to where you live)


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## BeeAware (Mar 24, 2007)

We have sourwood trees in my area but not enough in anyone place to gather pure sourwood honey. I order sourwood honey from Carl Webb in Georgia and it is delicious.


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## GaSteve (Apr 28, 2004)

We have a few here too, but I believe they don't produce nectar unless your at a certain elevation.


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## ga.beeman (Mar 29, 2009)

*sourwood*

I agree with these guys that there is alot of honey out there that is not sourwood. Elevation is important as well as the amount of trees. Pure Sourwood is hard to make. you have to time it just right as to when to super if you put them on to soon you can get huckaberry in it which will make it a little darker then it should be. but it still will be fairly light. this may be why you seen it starting to granulate in the bottom. Sumac also is blooming about this time in certain locations. It is some of the best if you time when to put supers on. one guy said nw Ga.( and it is here) but NE Ga. is better and NC is better Good luck David www.johnstonshoneyfarm.com


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## FishCop (Oct 23, 2007)

*sourwood honey*

Yall are right, there are lots of labels claiming to be sourwood, but few are pure sourwood. In east Tennessee there are sourwood trees in the mountains, but there are also sourwoods on the Cumberland Plateau and on the western highland rim along Kentucky Lake. I have hives in Hickman County in known sourwood locations, but I can not market my honey as "Sourwood" because it is a mix of every wild bloom and blossom in the woods. In some years we can get a lighter honey with that distinctive "Sourwood" taste, but it is rare in my experience. It is worth the effort to keep hives in that area because it is our favorite honey and we pray for a good bloom hoping to get it.


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