What kind of crops make the sweetest honey?

[Noel V]

Well,

I'm curious as to what kind of crop makes the sweetest, tastiest honey.

[tecumseh]

sweet and tasty ain't necessarily the same thing...

[Eaglerock]

My favorate has always been Buckwheat Honey.

[alpha6]

I think you are going to get as many responses as there is honey as peoples preference in taste are very different. However, for our purposes, prices are paid, though not always according to how the honey grades out.

See this link to learn more about how honey is graded.

http://www.honey.com/downloads/exhoney.pdf

It's a pdf file, so you need that program to open.

[Barry]

There's a lot of interesting data in these reports:

http://www.beesource.com/news/nhmn/index.htm

Our government is still in the stone age and the only way to get this info was to pay a fee and have the printed material mailed to you. It took way too much time to digitize this info so that's why there is only one years worth of reports. I'm not sure how many people actually used the info either.

[alpha6]

Good info Barry...you are right that the govt. is way behind the times. Interesting to see what the current prices would be. Talking to the packagers we are looking to get about 25 cents more a pound this year than last and that may go up depending on what the demand is going to be. Looks like a good year crop wise in our area thus far. We are starting to extract and its light with a good flavor and the bees are doing great.

[riverrat]

I run bees on soy beans, alfalfa, cotton, wildfowers, sunflowers, catalpa and other blooming trees. I got to say the sweetest, clearest, best tasting honey I get is from the cotton. The down side is the quick crystalization. But if you ask 10 people your question you will get 11 answers 10 arguments and maybe 2 that agree. Thats what keeps beekeeping interesting

[AstroBee]

I will certainly agree with cotton being the sweetest honey that I have ever tasted. Some of my customers come up to my booth and ask for the sweetest honey I have. I hand them a bottle of cotton honey - many come back again and again. For me, the favor of cotton doesn't compare with our spring time honey or some of the other honeys out there, but that's just me.

[danno1800]

we get it during the 3 week flow of the Linden or Lime tree [tilia americana or tilia cordata] It blooms in July around here. I hope that helps. -Danno

[RAlex]

Heres a link to more current info that Barry posted. It is in pdf format so you`ll have to have a reader (most do ) ...Rick

http://marketnews.usda.gov/portal/fv/honey

[sqkcrk]

Do some honeys have a higher sugar content? If so, that would answer the original question.

Is honey really a liquid or is it a solution, by definition? If moisture cintent is 16% to 18.5% then can the rest be of various mixes of sugars and minerals? Or what?

[Swobee]

I read in the Dadant's Hive & the Honeybee that honey is considered a colloid.

[Zane]

Swobee, the wife said you bottled the best honey she's had this year!!! It sure is goood!