Local varieties of honey have hyperlocal taste

By AnnaLisa Michalski
Correspondent

I had never been a raving fan of honey. Sure, it's a lovely golden color, like bottled sunshine. But it's too sweet for my taste and messy, too. Not worth the trouble, I thought.

Then I had my first taste of raw local honey. What a surprise! This is a whole different product than what's on the shelves of most large groceries. Aromatic and pungent, the flavor of this honey is far more than just "sweet."

Local beekeepers - there are more than a few in the area - have given me a whole new respect for local honey.

Like any other harvest, local honey is subject to nature's whims. Variations in environmental conditions from year to year influence how much honey a healthy hive will yield. In an ideal season, a single hive may produce as much as 100 pounds of honey.

Joe Taylor of Suffolk has kept bees for eight years. His colonies struggled last summer when smoke from wildfires in the Dismal Swamp blew north, causing the bees to repeatedly gorge themselves on honey rather than store it away.

This past spring, with its lower than normal temperatures and higher than normal rainfall, also resulted in a somewhat low honey yield. But Taylor as well as Sean Kenny, a Chuckatuck apiarist, both agreed Suffolk still saw its typical two peak honey harvests, one in spring and one in summer.

Smaller or less rural areas may only have a single peak harvest in spring because bees respond to whatever is growing in their environment. Suffolk has plenty of agriculture, so early summer is a time of blooming crops.

Many honey enthusiasts favor the light flavor of those summer varieties.

Sean recommends mild flavored honey, like that harvested locally in spring and early summer, for baking. Very dark, robust honey, such as that made from goldenrod nectar, can overwhelm a baked good's flavor.

"But those dark honeys are very good in oatmeal," says Sean, a look of pure bliss on his face.

Taylor explains that when a honey variety is advertised as "clover" or "orange blossom," for example, that honey is not necessarily more than 51% from the named source.

"You can't tell your bees where to go," he laughs.

But because bees generally gather nectar from within five miles of their hive, local crops have a definite impact on honey's character. Taylor's honey, for example, is influenced by the multiple fruit trees, wildflowers and vegetables he grows, as well as the crops of nearby farms. Sean's summer honey this year was heavily influenced by the cotton and soybeans growing on neighboring farms.

Honey from large-scale operations - the kind that usually ends up on grocery shelves - tends to be blended, composites of honey from multiple locations.

Ancient wisdom teaches that honey has medicinal qualities. Science backs this up: several modern studies have suggested that applying honey to a mild burn or surgical incision can prevent or treat infection.

That's because raw, unpasteurized honey - the kind most often offered by locals - contains antibacterial and antioxidant agents as well as a few beneficial bacteria. (Note: the microorganism that causes infant botulism may also be present in raw honey, so never give honey to a child under a year old.)

Joe Taylor says he gets regular requests for honey to guard against allergies. During the honey-making process, bees use the nectar of a plant but also pick up pollen. The theory is that exposure to these small amounts of pollen through a daily dose of honey builds a person's immunity to allergic reaction.

Local honey is the variety of choice for this anti-allergy effect. Local bees and local allergy sufferers are exposed to the same variety of plants, so local honey is actually customized to suit the needs of a local allergy sufferer.

AnnaLisa Michalski, churchland-corner@adminmaven.com got tips?

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