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Tue, 7 Sep 2021 14:47:13 -0400 |
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I'm just north of you, in Calgary, on the eastern slopes.
This summer, I've had the darkest honey of any season in 40 years of Canadian beekeeping. We had a lot of forest-fire smoke here, too. I have had other years with extreme smoke, yet honey that graded white. Typically, our honey is Extra White (10-15mm Pfund Scale); this year it grades Light Amber (50mm). Moisture is an amazing 15.6%.
I've analyzed pollen in the past, finding almost entirely (94%) canola and clovers.
Since I'm in a big city, and we had a severe drought this year, I suspect that my bees foraged irrigated parkways and perhaps gardens, encountering city flowers that they would ignore in a typical year. In past years, foragers largely left town (as indicated by waggle-dance video and also pollen). I need to get this year's honey sampled for pollen to get an idea of floral source to determine if there is a change.
I don't think smoke darkened your honey. Etienne Tardif supplied a good checklist - does your honey have a smoke flavour? It certainly will if smoke darkened it.
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