Sourwood Honey

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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