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Wed, 8 Sep 2021 11:01:58 -0400 |
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It's fairly widely known that heat and drought will result in darker honey. I wouldn't think smoke would have any impact on honey colour. As Ron mentioned, you'd be tasting it before you saw it, I would think.
I'm not sure why heat and lack of moisture make for darker honey. I'd always assumed it was because there is less nectar in the plant but the products that colour the nectar occur in the same amount, with the result being the nectar is darker than in a typical year. I could see this happening with clover honey and native plants; I have a harder time imagining canola and alfalfa honey darkening with heat and water stress.
Another option, which Ron has already said: it could also be due to a shift to different plants sources, such as native plants with deeper root systems, or those irruptive plants that seem to grow like mad in atypical years. For example, there are thick carpets of Bidens cernua in the wetlands around my place this year, which isn't typical, and pollinators are all over it.
Another option could be more honeydew than usual in the honey. Honeydew is more likely in hot, dry years as well. All the honeydew I've tasted has a distinct strong "malty" flavour so you might be able to ID the presence of a bit of honeydew from taste.
So my short guess is the darker honey is due to excessive heat and lack of surface soil moisture rather than smoke.
Tracey
Alberta, Canada
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