Premium Varieties of Honey?? Commanding Premium Prices

[CentralPAguy]

I am thinking that certain areas produce better flavored honeys, which command premium prices in the marketplace. In my neck of the woods, the emphasis is on Locust Honey.

In Florida, there is Tupolo and I think in Georgia (sourwood), which I have both sampled. I really enjoyed the Sourwood.

What other areas in the country produce exceptional flavored honeys that also command premium prices? Thanks.

[Chef Isaac]

Fireweed honey in Washington State. Blackberry Honey. Knotweed Honey, Sage Honey, Lavendar Honey.

[Grant]

I harvest honey from several different areas with different soil types and different crops. Watermelon blossum honey is a favorite as well as strawberry blossum honey. What you need is a large enough expanse of a single crop to give it some kind of a designation.

I also have certain areas (with diverse crops) that also produce specifically tasting, unique honeys. I label them by their region. Since I store all my honey in 5 gallon buckets, it becomes easy to keep it segregated.

Many of my customers request honey based on it's varietal name, but I have yet to really cash in on the premium nature of these honeys. If anything, what I've found is I sell a whole bunch of smaller containers, particularly 8-ounce and 16-ounce squeeze bottles. These containers, in and of themselves, command premium prices.

The 8-ounce sells for $3.50, and if you pull out 50 cents for the cost of the container, that honey is selling for $6 a pound. The 16-ounce sells for $5.00, and if you take out 50 cents for the container, that honey is selling for $4.50 a pound.

However, context seems to be everything. A gift store in my area wanted honey, but was very specific as to the jar design. They wanted to design a label that reflected their store and its ambiance (read: hoity-toity). I packaged my plain old clover honey in 9-ounce hex jars, put on their label with my contact info, and they marketed that 9-ounce jar for $10.99

The jars run about 75 cents each which makes that honey cost $18.20 a pound.

And for run-of-the-mill clover honey!

Unfortunately, they sell relatively little honey. But it is an interesting outlet if you wanted to
"premium-ize" your honey.

Grant
Jackson, MO

[Chef Isaac]

grant: do you have online ordering? I have some friends who would like some of your honey.

[AndrewSchwab]

Lavendar Honey?????
Chief, is there a real source for lavendar honey?
Where I live there is yet to be enough acreage to label the honey as such.
At best there are maybe 20 acre plots of lavendar. Then within that plot they have different kinds that bloom at different parts of the season.

It is hard for flowers to compete with the blackberry bloom.Bees love there blackberries. They don't touch the lavendar at the house when the blackberries are in bloom.

[Chef Isaac]

yes Andrew. There is not on the Western side of WA but in the mid and eastern area, there are a few farms that are big boys.