What happened to my honey?

[GABE]

My first ever harvest and extraction last year yielded 5 gallons of thick golden delicious honey. This year I pulled one full medium super and extracted about two gallons of runny black not so delicous honey. The plants around here haven't changed and it is the same hive. This honey tastes like the pancake surrup you get at fast food places. Can anyone tell me what is going on??

[Scut Farkas]

Are your hives close to a Denny's?

[Apuuli]

Did you recently have an IHOP open up down the street from your hive?

The plants may not have changed, but what's blooming could have. Every year is not the same as the year before especially in the chaparral, which has ~5 year drought cycles. Which annual plants are growing and producing nectar could also have changed.

According to the City, last year was slightly below average in rainfall but this year is much further below average so far.

http://www.santabarbaraca.gov/Govern...SBCalendar.htm

[Bob Bee]

Gabe,

I don't know if this has anything to do with it or not but sometimes here I get some real dark honey with a strong taste. Mine is usually amber to light amber with a mild taste.
The last 2 supers that I pulled this year which was about 2 weeks (5 gal) ago was dark like that. I have no idea what they worked to get that. Here in Ga. where I live theres just woods. I thought it might be bitterweed since the pastures are full of them.
Bobby

[Andrew@ThreeElms]

I was reading Ken Schramm's book on mead making. He states that each years honey harvest is its own vintage, similar to how grapes differ year to year. I think he got it wrong. If you extract honey through the year (or keep the supers seperate) each different extraction will taste different in addition to each year being uniq. My early season June honey is very different from my late season August honey, which is much different from the golden rod/aster honey they'll make now.

When is the normal honey flows in Santa Barbara, and what's the rain been like this year? Maybe if you pulled the supers earlier or at a different time you could avoid something that you don't like? Golden rod for example isn't sell able out here.

Dark honey's can me good as well. I got some Manuka honey the last time I was in Australia. It almost had a molasses taste to it, but it was good once you got used to it. Honey in australia was different too, there was no clover at all so it didn't have that mild clover "tang" that mine does.