Coleene said:
The honey you are speaking of may be from Japanese Knotweed AKA Japanese
Bamboo-an invasive and definitely unwanted weed.

I am very familier with the above plants so will comment.

Knotweed ( Smartweed, doorweed, persicaria, lady's thumb, water pepper ,
etc.)  which is a slang name for Heartsease (polygonum) and Japanese bamboo
(actually chinese bamboo or sachaline) Polygonum sachalinense are two very
different plants.

The knotweed is not a problem for farmers and cows actually will eat
knotweed (called smartweed in the Midwest ) but the bamboo is disliked by
farmers as can grow to a height of 12 feet and is difficult to eradicate.
Both are honey plants

I have got hives on smartweed as far as the eye can see. Looks like a pink
carpet. Pink and white are the midwest colors but I am told two other colors
occur.

When the honey is mostly smartweed the honey has a decent flavor, can be as
dark as Buckwheat which the weed is of the same family and has  a distinct
odor which prevents  most beekeepers from selling the smartweed  as a
specialty honey.

People which like Buckwheat honey, people which believe the darker honey has
more antioxidents and mead makers buy smartweed honey but bakeries buy the
most from me.

The japanese knotweed is an ornamental and normally found only in small
plots so most honey plants books say of little importance as a honey plant
but bees freely work all of the above and they bloom at a time in our area
when little else is blooming.

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison

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