Honey taster is the person who has sought out the truely great seldom found honeys that can not be found in the supermart chain. There are a number of varieties of honey that are known as great gourmet honey from monofloral sources, here is a partial North American list of honeys to try:

• Blackberry – Pacific Northwest
• Star Thistle - Wisconsin, Washington
• Palmetto - Florida
• Tupelo – Florida
• Fireweed – Pacific Northwest
• Huajilla - Texas
• Black Button Sage - California
• Raspberry - Pacific Northwest
• Lavender - Pacific Northwest
• Pumpkin,- cultivated
• Purple Sage - California
• Orange Blossom – Florida, California
• Sourwood – North Carolina, Georgia
• Gallberry - Florida

Honey tasters are in every nectar producing area of the world. The best example of honey tasting is standing in the apiary (beeyard) eating comb honey right out of the hive! Most of us will not have that opportunity but we can enjoy the many different honeys that are available. There is more labor needed to keep the different kinds of honey separate, so expect the gourmet honey treat to be a little more expensive. There are many more varieties of honey that are wonderful and qualify as a gourmet honey. However there just is not enough production of the special nectar to export any of the delight past the community it was produced in. That does not mean that a honey taster can’t ferret out these elusive finds! Good hunting!

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Raw honey debates still rage in the honey world. Since there is no agency or government that regulates the guidelines to produce raw honey, we have to revert to the science that we have at hand. Raw honey can be defined as honey that has not been heated above the ambient temperature within the hive during honey gathering. There has been recorded temperatures of 118° within a beehive during nectar flow. Above this temperature, the honey wax or honey comb will melt. It is obvious that the highest temperature, we can use to define raw honey is 118°. The beekeeper can harvest the honey, store the honey and extract the honey in temperatures of 118° or lower and logically call his crop, raw honey.

Some retailers call their honey, “raw honey” even though it is been processed at 140°. Hundred and 40° for 45 minutes has been considered a pasteurization process that kills the natural enzymes, nutrients and vitamins, that are benificial to good health, that were in the honey. Most commercial honey packers heat their honey to 160° so that high pressure filters can be used in their bottling process. These temperatures are unacceptable in the defining of raw honey.

Raw honey, that is also Gourmet Honey is a premium honey not found at your local market. Raw honey does not flow very well at hundred and 118°. In fact, honey at this temperature flows like a huge thick blanket. The degree of difficulty to process honey that does not flow easily through cheesecloth or nylon straining cloth is very high and time-consuming not to mention COSTLY! Therefore, the production of raw honey is more expensive, but the biggest cost is in the storage of unpasteurized honey. Honey that has not been pasteurized,such as Raw Honey, will ferment due to airborne yeast spores that are found everywhere on the earth including the Arctics. The yeast spores and the sugars in the honey can cause the honey to ferment. Fermented honey would have to be discarded for a lost to the beekeeper. Therefore, raw honey must be sold and consumed in a reasonable period of time after harvest. Gourmet raw honey is a culinary delight and should be enjoyed on the par with fine wines.

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Sourwood honey is a localized honey that is produced from Pennsylvania to Northwest Florida but is found in concentrations large enough to produce substancial amounts of honey in the lower Appalachian Mountains.The sourwood tree is a form of a shrub that blooms very late and has white bell-shaped flowers in June , July and August. Sourwood honey has a spicy, sweet flavor with anise aroma  that renders a lingering, pleasant finish on the palate. Generally light in color, sourwood honey is prized by honey lovers and has even been known to convert non-honey eaters into honey lovers.

Sourwood honey is produced from the sourwood tree, Oxydendrum arboreum and has a second common name of lily of the valley tree. Honey bees are the primary pollinators of the sourwood tree and as a byproduct, the sourwood tree produces the nectar that yields the popular sourwood honey. The sourwood tree has no value as a source of timber. Some local residents landscape using the sourwood tree for native flora.

The sourwood honey crop is very finite due to the short season of blooms on the tree. Shortages of sunshine, rain and the presence of low temperatures can also limit the sourwood honey crop to a negligible harvest. The ever mysterious hive decline, disease and theft, yes bee rustlers, have brought the sourwood honey crop to a mere taste on location. Sourwood is not produced in quantities large enough to sell outside the local market.

The successful location of an apiary in a high concentration of sourwood trees that could produce a high concentration of pure sourwood honey is being hampered by development and the many years it takes for the trees to mature if planted from nursery stock.

The highest concentration of sourwood trees known are in Western North Carolina.Look for the new sourwood honey crop in August and September. This area can produce some of the purest sourwood honey from a monofloral source. Beware of venders that do not have their own beehives in this area that are selling “sourwood honey”! Most sourwood honey is mixed with other floral sources because other flowers bloom at the same time as sourwood. Unethical venders sell star thistle honey as sourwood honey. star thistle honey is America’s Number One Favorite Preferred Honey. After tasting star thistle honey, no one will ever convince you that star thistle honey is sourwood honey!  

Gourmet Gift packs of honey, including star thistle honey, tupelo honey, palmetto honey and blackberry varieties make an excelent choice.

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Honey gift has always been a gift of honor, trust and treasure. Honey has been used as currency so the idea of honey gifts are grounded in tradition and cultures all over the world. Honey gifts are commonly given for weddings, birthdays and house warming occasions.

The ideal honey gift is a selection of honeys that gives multiple tastes without an extravagant expense. Four honey flavors in 5 oz. containers is an ideal honey gift. Blackberry Honey, king of all tea sweetening honeys, from the Pacific Northwest, Tupelo Honey, highly prized and very expensive to produce, from North Florida, Star Thistle Honey, America’s Favorite Honey, 12 years in a row, from Michigan, and Saw Palmetto Honey, Everglades Golden Honey, the hidden treasure thought to be endangered, from South Florida combine four Gourmet Honeys not found collectively anywhere else. The best Honey Gift Set is available from www.honeytaster.com/

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