Varietal Honey
We produce a number of raw, varietal honeys depending on the season.
These may include:
Sourwood
A mono-floral honey unique to the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Sourwood has a light tone of vanilla with a creamy, buttery finish. Cheese boards, biscuits and chai tea are all brighter with this regional favorite.
Goldenrod
Produced in the fall, this honey has a richness that makes it a popular choice with bakers.
Basswood
A mid-summer honey produced at high elevations with mint and citrus undertones. Light bodied and herbal teas pair well with this honey.
Locust
A rare treat in Southern Appalachia! The 2019 crop was our first harvest of the elusive Locust honey in over 10 years.
Light, delicate and floral in taste, great on cheese boards. We have a limited supply of this honey will not last long. Get it while you can.
How do we know which honey is which?
Honey bees will scavenge nectar from every available flower resource they find. With the abundance of nectar sources Southern Appalachia offers, the bees utilize each sunny, warm day the best they can gathering nectar and pollen. Each year is different in terms of availability of different nectar sources the bees have access to, with weather the most significant factor affecting nectar dependability. This determines the quantity of Varietal honeys we are able to offer to consumers. We are unable to predict what each year will yield, and hope that each apiary has access to abundant resources for our bees to do their thing.
With over 60,000 bees living in a single hive, the nectar is processed in the most efficient manner; gathered from the flower, packed into honeycomb, dried, and finally, sealed with wax for storage. Bees work as a unit to complete this task, and with tens of thousands of bees all working as one, this process is completed in a few days. Every frame in the hive that contains honey can be a mixture of different kinds or one specific Varietal.
Our Varietal honeys are separated out during processing time, frame by frame. We identify the color of the honey first and then taste both sides of each frame to verify which Varietal honey the frame contains. Because each nectar source has characteristics unique to that flower, every honey has a taste profile (like wine). This process, while laborious, is necessary to ensure a pure product in each bottle for our customers. We hope you enjoy our efforts in preserving the unique characteristics of each Varietal.
Honey bees will scavenge nectar from every available flower resource they find. With the abundance of nectar sources Southern Appalachia offers, the bees utilize each sunny, warm day the best they can gathering nectar and pollen. Each year is different in terms of availability of different nectar sources the bees have access to, with weather the most significant factor affecting nectar dependability. This determines the quantity of Varietal honeys we are able to offer to consumers. We are unable to predict what each year will yield, and hope that each apiary has access to abundant resources for our bees to do their thing.
With over 60,000 bees living in a single hive, the nectar is processed in the most efficient manner; gathered from the flower, packed into honeycomb, dried, and finally, sealed with wax for storage. Bees work as a unit to complete this task, and with tens of thousands of bees all working as one, this process is completed in a few days. Every frame in the hive that contains honey can be a mixture of different kinds or one specific Varietal.
Our Varietal honeys are separated out during processing time, frame by frame. We identify the color of the honey first and then taste both sides of each frame to verify which Varietal honey the frame contains. Because each nectar source has characteristics unique to that flower, every honey has a taste profile (like wine). This process, while laborious, is necessary to ensure a pure product in each bottle for our customers. We hope you enjoy our efforts in preserving the unique characteristics of each Varietal.
