Thanks for all the responses to my query about a very dark honey I obtained
in Piedmont NC this year. Among the suggestions were honeydew, fruit
juices, and sparkleberry.

What seems the most likely conclusion, however, is that I have nearly pure
tulip poplar honey. I had always thought tulip poplar to be an amber honey,
but several folk wrote knowledgeably of near black honey from the tulip
poplar -- though with a distinct redness when held up to the light. This
describes my honey quite well. Another spoke of having a similar "motor oil
honey" pollen tested and finding predominantly tulip poplar pollen.

It was quite dry in our area early this spring -- at about the time that
clover usually peaks -- and the clover never really seemed to recover. The
poplars, on the other hand, bloomed like crazy. I'm guessing that in my
normal harvest the poplar honey is diluted with clover, sumac, and others,
but that this di not occur this year.

Ain't it one of the great joys of beekeeping to speculate endlessly about
these things that are beyond the ken and concern of the vast bulk of
humanity?!!

Greg


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Greg Hankins                    Happy Hank's Honey House
[log in to unmask]                 Mt. Gilead, North Carolina