Bob:

As I have already emailed you off list, I believe the dark honey you are 
describing comes from sumac, aboundant across the region, if not across 
America.  

Their flowers come in bundles of super tiny greeny-yellow blossoms.  They 
are in full swing within the period you desceibe and they produce dark 
honey; the nectar itself is light-green; however, the super abundant 
yellow pollen is overwhelmingly orange.  (Bees will make yellow foot-
prints all over and around the entrance when the sumacs are in bloom, a 
sure sign of their blooming)  Hence when you spin the frames in the 
centerfuge (extractor), the orange pollen mixes with and darknes the 
otherwise light honey, making it overall look orange-red.  Shine the sun 
light through the honey jar: the liquid shines like the rising sun, 
indeed.  Magnificient!  Hence I dubbed it “The Rising Sun” brand.  Dark 
honey, it has a full-body after taste, like red wine, and some would love 
it, as I do.  The sumac blooms in June ending in mid July around here, and 
they are abundant along the shoulders of the roads and highways.  This 
year’s abundant rain helped more sumacs to bloom than usual.

This is what I tell my customers who buy my Rising Sun brand.  Go to the 
grocery store and buy one of those French loaves coming in a twist-open 
can.  Bake it in the oven and then halve it in the middle, dig a hole 
where you cut, and then put real butter and honey in it.  This way the 
uncut bottom will hold the molten lava inside.  Eat it piping-hot.  It 
beats biscuit and honey anytime.

Regards,

ysk

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