23 yr old Horsemint Honey

[RonS]

That is right, 23 year old honey. Tastes as good as the day extracted. A lady came to our association asking if anyone wanted to buy it. She extracted it and placed it in a honey-house cabinet. They moved shortly thereafter, but kept the house. She sold all of her equipment, but again forgot about the honey. She found it while preparing the house for sale.

Horsemint is native to this area of south Texas. It produces nectar that bees turn into amber to very dark, well flavored honey. I got used to varieties of dark honey durng my 20 years in Europe. Beekeepers there market honey according to medicial purposes. This honey has the color and consistency of thick sorghum molasses. It's taste is similar. Strong, but not so much as to turn anyone with a taste for the unusual away. I use it straight on bread, or with oatmeal.

Medicinal Action and Uses---In its plant form: Rubefacient, stimulant, carminative. The infusion is used for flatulent colic, sickness, and as a diaphoretic and emmenagogue, or as a diuretic in urinary disorders. I suggest that the honey has many of these uses, but is really good for digestive disorders.

Like others using this forum, I like the unusual. I collected honey from all over Europe and England/Scotland/Wales, and now South America. Let me know if you share this interest.

Ron

[Jeffrey Todd]

Hi Ron,

I, too, like the unusual, and have a special fondness for dark honeys. (Okay, no jokes!)
I get a bit of horsemint honey around here and to me, it has almost a citrusy flavor. There is also an absolutely wonderful, thick, dark, fall honey that I prize above all others; just don't get it every year. Light honey is fine, but I think it often lacks the richness that you get with the darker ones. My customers seem to agree.

Jeffrey

[Laurence Hope]

RonS, I, too, enjoy the dark honey flavors of honey. What would you consider in trade? And what quantity are you looking to trade? I am in the midst of extracting some different (don't know what source) flavored dark honey right now. It came from something just prior to orange blossom bloom while I was awaiting the bloom and am picking through the boxes selecting the dark stuff from my light orange honey. I should have it ready to bottle at the end of the week.

[tecumseh]

jeffrey sezs:
I get a bit of horsemint honey around here and to me, it has almost a citrusy flavor.

tecumseh replies:
exactly, although here horsemint honey is most time mixed with wildflowers and is sometime dark and sometime not so dark. it taste like someone has added just a hint of lemon (citrus) to the honey.

strangely enough one local bee keeper here didn't even know how to recognize horse mint. I have noticed a few horsemint plants here that are extremely purple (as contransted to a pale purple). I was wondering what circumstance generated this extreme purple color.

now that is quite an excellent fine rons.

[honeyman46408]

""strangely enough one local bee keeper here didn't even know how to recognize horse mint""

I don`t know what it is or mabee not by that name. Got any pic. referances??

[Beemaninsa]

Tecumseh good question. I was curious myself. I have been told both a slight variation in plant species and soil type determine color. I don't know. Horsemint is an important honey plant in my area when it blooms. We have purple horsemint and greenish-white (sandy land) horsemnit. The greenish-white horsemint produces excellent amounts of nectar and can get a slight purpleish ting on the flower tips when old. I have seen the greenish-white horsemnt growing only in sandy loam/clay (texas coastal plain). The purple hosemint is in the texas hill country. Some think that the purple horsemint does not have as strong a flavor and does not produce quite as much nectar. To confuse matters futher, I think there is a spotted horsemint that is green also. Pure fresh horsemint honey that I am familiar with is extra light amber or lighter, does not sugar quickly and has a strong mint/citrus taste that will make you pucker with a pronounced after taste. In my area this year has been exceptional for horsemint. I have also heard it called lemon beebalm and lemon mint. To some people I know, it is their favorite honey, some people dislike it. Easy to identify as the flower plumes have a square stalk.