Dear Dave and Janice, I don't know if I ever had pure goldenrod honey before but I have had excellent flows of wild aster. I think that the reason it is not considered table grade is a couple of characteristics. One is the perchance for crystallizing. I have had drops start to crystallize on the tailgate of the truck by the time I returned home after a half day in the field. Even after heating it will crystallize much faster than other honey's. The other is the smell. It has a very stong odor for about a year. After that it loses most of the odor but it is still evident. In a good flow it does come in with a very light color. In fact I have had flows where it was as light as any clover honey. A man in Indianapolis who handled bee supplies and bought and sold honey had a good walk in trade for wild flower honey. He liked the Aster honey and would store it for a year and then blend it with other flavors for his customers. In southern Indiana where I lived before moving to northern Indiana, aster honey was considered a good honey to winter hives on. In spite of the crystallization it was good food for the bees as long as it was well cured. The smoothest honey that I have ever tasted was made from wild Morning Glory. The locals called it bluevine. In the river bottoms before the use of chemicals the river would overflow killing out patches of corn. If the corn was large enough the farmers could not get into the areas to replant and there would be areas free of corn and the morning glory would grow unchecked. That is when there would get a strong flow of bluevine honey. Many years ago when I was a small boy my father had bees next to buckwheat and I know what you mean by the dark, thick honey. I did'nt particularly like it. Good luck in your survey. Charlie Charles R. Bradley Extension Educator Marshall County Extension Office 112 W. Jefferson Street Room 304 Plymouth, IN 46563 Phone: 219-935-8545 Email: [log in to unmask]