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Jim noted that most of us cannot tell what plant a honey comes from.
Tony Jadczak brings a variety of honeys to meetings and I never get them
right nor do most.
What is a fair truism, which I have observed at fairs, is the young and
people who eat little or no honey prefer lighter honeys while the older
folk and honey eaters like dark honey. I have shown this over and over
in blind taste tests. It is all in the flavors of the darker honey. More
"substance".
The other observation I have is a that anyone who thinks their honey is
the same from year to year, even in the same location, is fooling
themselves.You can get entirely different tastes and color from colonies
which are side by side in the same season..
It is never "my" honey. It is the bee's honey and they get it from
wherever they want. I will have an occasional year when basswood comes
in and it is, depending on your taste, an excellent honey that smells of
mint. It can be a great seller, but, again, it is from the same colony I
got a nice bland honey the year before. The colony right beside it might
have none.
About the only group that can claim a fairly uniform honey are the
commercial beekeepers (AKA CV beekeepers- continuously vilified) who
pollinate specific crops, but even then you can get the weeds that
border the fields. Purple vetch under my apple trees draws the bees
better than a host of apple blossoms. And the first honey of spring is
more apt to be maple than dandelion.
We are selling a product that is non-uniform except for the seller. We
are the constant and forget taste and color and whatever else you want
to add, it is really your ability to sell that is the number one factor.
That has been very obvious from my time behind the counter at Fairs. If
you go after the customer you sell. If you smile at them they pass you by.
My brother was and is a great salesman. He had some serious health
problems when young so his growth was stunted. He sold papers and would
look at you with those "painted on velvet" waif's eyes and you had to
buy a paper. I took his route when he was sick and had to explain I was
his brother and he was getting the money. It is all in the salesman. The
product was the same.
Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine
-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and other info ---
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