At 09:46 AM 1/5/98 -0500, Michael Palmer wrote:
 
>    Here in Vermont, we seem to have a new honey. Actually I've made
>some on both sides of lake Champlain. Let me start again. Here in the
>Champlain Valley we seem to have a new honey. Dark in color, and strong
>in taste. Reports of this "honey" have increasing in the last 2 or 3
>years. The biggest change in agriculture here has been the increase of
>corn acreage in the last 2 or 3 years. Hmmm... From corn??
 
Hi  Michael,
 
Could be honeydew from insects that have come in with the corn or do better because of it? 
Would have to know more to really make an educated guess, such as timing of the flow, color of the honey, clarity of it, and of course the all important taste test. Some extra floral and honeydews 
collected in large enough amounts by bees to extract are very good and can be marked for premium prices. Others do not even make good bee food. The lowest price I ever got for any honey was for Oak honeydew, $.0775, seven and three quarters cents per pound and I shipped it to Cuba for use as flavoring for tobacco, I supplied or lost the containers and they paid the freight. That was before the US embargo on trade with Cuba so it was sometime ago. At the time the best white honey, SAGE or Orange, brought the beekeeper .15 cents per pound and was sold in the markets for .29 cents per pound, and we made a good living.<G>
 
Before my time Cuba was a big producer of much export honey which came after the sugar cane fields were burned and cut. It was from the natural sugary sap of the corn stalks. It was very dark because of the carbon  from the burned cane and for a few years was imported into the US and filtered to remove the black color and sold as "Honey". The rules were changed and today this could not be done as in the US as no filer aids are allowed other the diatomaceous earth in filtering honey. This is not the case in all countries and in some the honey can actually within the laws of that country be taken apart and reassembled. Lucky for us these are not surplus or bulk honey exporting countries but we still have had a few problems with honey from some of their neighbors who have been know to add a little extender to their bulk honey during processing.     
 
> Any ideas?? Could check for pollen in the honey, but dont have the equipment needed.
 
Any kids microscope will work if you are not into the study of it for a life's work.  But remember pollen is not natural in MOST if not all honey, (bees have a filter in their honey gut to remove any pollen that may get in anyway), (but I am sure some will challenge this anyway), and if you start looking you will find much more then pollen in the so called "organic, natural or pure honey" fresh from the extractor before it is packed in consumer containers.  Most of pollen that gets into honey is put there in the beekeepers extracting process and is not a good way to identify the actual honey from that hive or hives as bees collect much pollen from plants that never produce a drop of nectar. I would be surprised to find say clover or alfalfa honey produced in the corn belt that did not contain more corn pollen then clover or alfalfa pollen if any of that at all as these two plants produce little pollen anyway. Some pollen looks so similar to other pollen that only after covering it with gold dust and using the old electron microscope can differences be found.
 
 
Well enough wandering for now, please let us know if you ever find out what kind of honey that is.
 
ttul,  the OLd Drone                                                                      
 
 
-- 
Click...click...click..damn, out of taglines!