Since huney.net is based in Dallas, our honey selection is Texas-centric and includes five unique Texas varietals – Cotton, Huajillo, Wildflower, Sweet Clover, and Tallow Tree honey. Today I’d like to tell you a little about each of these Texas honeys.

Cotton – straight from the cotton fields of west Texas, this honey is naturally crystallized and spreadable like butter. It is very sweet with a mild creamy flavor and a clean, fresh smell. My favorite way to eat it is cotton honey and peanut butter sandwiches.

Huajillo – this honey comes from the huajillo plant, a shrub in the acacia family native to the southwestern United States. It has a deeply sweet taste with a delicate floral smell. Drizzle it over sopapillas or use it as a glaze for baked pork chops.

Texas Wildflower – in springtime the grasslands of Texas are covered with plethora of wildflowers such as bluebonnets, Indian paintbrush, pink evening primrose, and horsemint. The bees forage for nectar and pollen from these flowers creating a flavorful uniquely Texas honey. Use it in place of the sugar in pecan pie recipes.

Sweet Clover – a beautifully clear honey made from north central Texas sweet clover blossoms. It is intensely sweet with a fragrant herbal smell. I like to use it as a dip for fried chicken.

Tallow Tree – a rich, spicy honey from the gulf coast of Texas. The tallow tree, also known as the popcorn tree, is a favorite of beekeepers in the south central and southeastern United States because of its abundant nectar flows. Pour it over French toast sprinkled with cinnamon and nutmeg.

In addition to our Texas varietals, we also carry Buckwheat, Sourwood, and Orange Blossom honey. We ship to all 48 continental United States and offer local pick-up at our Dallas facility. For more information visit http://www.huney.net, email workerbee@huney.net, or call 469-834-0838.

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As I drove south to the fair, I wondered how much focus would be paid to honey when compared to Indiana’s major agricultural focus of corn, popcorn, peppermint, chickens and ice cream.

As it turned out, even as a relatively small part of Indiana’s overall agricultural focus, it enjoys strong support and prominence because bees provide valuable pollination services, honey is a valued product and from my personal perspective, bees and honey are fun.

The fair was bigger than I’d imagined. It took me quite a while to find the building where the honey competition had been held, but once inside, the display of honey competitors was impressive. The darker honeys are grouped in the amber category and the light honey in the light category.
Honey Competition: Results – Agricultural/Horticulture – Apiary – (unofficial)
Category A (From honey exhibited and for sale at the fair – Cannot enter honey in category B) – Light Extracted Honey
1st – Phillip Juengel
2nd – Tracy Hunter
3rd – Duane Rekeweg
Category A – Amber Extracted Honey
1st – Duane Rekeweg
2nd – Tracy Hunter
3rd – Phillip Juengel
Category A – Chunk Honey, 24 – 1 lb jars
1st – Duane Rekeweg
2nd – Phillip Juengel
3rd – Tracy Hunter
Category A – Creamed Honey, 24 – 1 lb jars
1st – Duane Rekeweg
2nd – Tracy Hunter
3rd – Phillip Juengel
Category B – Light Extracted Honey
1st – John Hopwood
Category B – Amber Extracted Honey
1st – Skip and Luann Wile
2nd – Andrew Cook
Champion (Most total points in category B entries) – Category B
1st – Skip and Luann Wile
Grand Champion (Best single category B entry) – Category B Entry
1st – Skip and Luann Wile

The Indiana Beekeepers’ Association General store had honey and bee products from many beekeepers across the state. Notice the honey ice cream for sale!

The range of honey and bee products was staggering.

The best part of the store was the “try before you buy” free tasting. The range of flavors was impressive!

The ISBA also gave a series of presentations and information about beekeeping of great interest to visitors and future ‘beeks’ (beekeeping slang for ‘beekeepers’).

Tracy Hunter and his son, Ross pose in their booth. Ross is the 4th generation in the family honey business. Offering many different varieties of honey including, alfalfa, basswood, buckwheat, orange blossom, thistle, blueberry, spanish needle, goldenrod, sourwood and watermelon blosssom.

My haul of honey from left to right, mountain sourwood, watermelon blossom, alfalfa, creamed honey, thistle, multifloral and locust! I am still enjoying each and every one.

And the honey ice cream? I bought some pre-made honey but found this recipe over by the beekeeping booth. Let me know what you think!
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Reference, Further Reading
Indiana Beekeeper’s Association Facebook
Apiary-Bees Honey Indiana State Fair Competition Rules 2012 (PDF)
Indiana Beekeepers’ Association, Inc.
Hunter Honey Indiana

The post Indiana State Fair – A Palette of Honey appeared first on Honey Traveler.

Thirteen entries. The first batch judged was the light, then amber and dark honeys. Initial observations were written on cards for each entry. Once all criteria was measured, the data was transferred to scorecard and added up.

The bottles must be absolutely clean. No fingerprints or smudges. Each entry has three bottles. All three must be perfect. Marks are determined by the poorest of the three. The flashlight is used to check the clarity of the honey, looking for particles. In a large show this is the first item checked in the culling process.

Check the jar lid, this must be spotless. The bottles must be filled to the fill line. Inside the rim must be clean, no wax particles, no bee parts, dust, foam or bubbles (of any size), some people pop any wayward bubbles with a toothpick prior to the competition.

Checking the moisture content of the honey with a refractometer.  15.1 to 17.5% is the target. Over 18.6% is a fail.

Taking notes on each honey. Aroma must have no chemical smell, including windex used to clean the outside of the bottle. No smoke or fermentation.

Light Liquid Honey winners. First place garnered 99/100 points! An excellent honey.
1st place: Rich Herout
2nd place: James Belli
3rd place: Corky Schnadt

Complete list of winners – Thanks to all competitors!
LIQUID LIGHT HONEY
1st place: Rich Herout
2nd place: James Belli
3rd place: Corky Schnadt
…
LIQUID AMBER HONEY
1st place: Corky Schnadt
2nd place: Rich Herout
3rd place: James Belli
…
LIQUID DARK HONEY
1st place: James Belli
2nd place: Charles Lorence
3rd place: Chris Albert
…
CANDLES
1st place: James Belli
2nd place: Rich Herout
3rd place: Charles Lorence
…
BEST IN SHOW: James Belli

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Christina From La Casona De Don Jaime II Hostel in Rosario

Christina, the friendly manager of the Rosario hostel where we stayed during a recent trip to Argentina, highly recommended the Kayak tour of the Paraná River. “Everyone I’ve sent has loved it!”, she said. We did too, but as often happens, it was the unexpected discoveries that made it especially sweet.

We thought it would be a great way to see the Paraná. The tour was supposed to be 2 to 3 hours long and an early morning start left us plenty of time to kayak and still catch our late afternoon bus to Puerto Iguazu. We were curious to learn more about the river that connected the mighty Iguazu Falls to Buenos Aires and is also the second longest river in South America after the Amazon.

Our first surprise was to learn that our Kayak trip would not be on the Paraná river at all, but on a tiny channel running parallel to the Paraná on the edge of a vast delta of islands, lagoons and wetlands that runs from about 100 miles north of Rosario south to Buenos Aries.

Rosario seen over a low island from the delta channel

Rosario to Victoria Bridge that spans the Parana river and the delta just north of Rosario. Urban growth and large-scale livestock ranches are upsetting the natural balance of the delta wetlands.

Map of the Parana Delta Near Rosario. Shows area of trip and location of the honey

It is difficult to see the outlines of the channels and islands of the delta on a map, even with Google Satellite, because the sediment-rich brown water is so similar to the land, but click on the map to the right for a clearer example of the extent of the delta across from Rosario, where we kayaked and for the location of the honey.

This is the only delta in the world that is formed upon entry to another river rather than a standing body of water like a lake or ocean. It is one of the largest coastal wetland areas in Argentina with an ecosystem rich in plant and animal life.

This delta is approximately 17,000 sq. kilometers and 300 km. long, yet it has only about 3,000 permanent residents. Living conditions are challenging with transportation only by boat and shifting sedimentary islands eroding properties and frequent flooding requiring homes to be built on stilts. On the islands near Rosario there are literally only a few dozen families, while in the southern delta area of Tigre near Buenos Aries there are hundreds of vacation homes ranging from cottages to substantial summer homes and the population increases by ten-fold in the summer.

Beekeeping on the Delta

Beehives on the Parana Delta channel outside Rosario

As we rounded the bend off the Parana river into the beginning of our delta channel, I was surprised to see beehives on the island to the west.

Miel For Sale

A few minutes later we saw a house with a sign that declared “Miel” (Honey) out front! “That’s the home of Luis Sainz,” we were informed by Sebastian, our guide, “He is the beekeeper who lives on the island, would you like to see if he is home?” Sebastian explained he often buys honey from Luis. Later, while sharing a Mate he told us he was happy we bought some honey because it meant in a small way his kayak business was helping the local economy.

The delta supports a wide diversity of plants, animals and birds. Unlike much of the agricultural areas of Argentina which focus on single crops such as soy and rice, the diversity of plants and additive-free environment support organic beekeeping. Honey is produced in the delta along with other production such river fishing (surubí and sábalo), wicker and rattan (for place-mats, baskets and curtains), some lumbering and tourism.

Luis and daughter watch as Sebastian inspects his newly acquired honey and pollen

Beekeeping is actually Luis’ second profession, he works as a psychologist in the city of Rosario. He also speaks English quite well, thanks to attending high school in Connecticut. Incidentally, upon graduation he was offered a four year scholarship to Yale which he declined to return home to Argentina. He has about 300 hives and produces between three and six tons of honey per year, selling it directly from his home and in Rosario, with the balance sold in bulk wholesale.

From Luis’ observations and testing, the predominate plants that contribute to this honey are:

• Willow (Salix humboldtiana)
• Sage (Salvia spp.)
• Caa Tay – Knotweed (Polygonum acuminatum)
• Camalote – Common Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes)
• Lily (Crinum spp.)

We bought two jars of honey from Luis and he also gave us a bottle of propolis tincture for skin irritations.

Tasting Parana Honey. Both were delicious! The honey on the left was about 10 months old and was slightly crystallized, moderately sweet and full flavored; the honey on the right was sweeter and milder tasting.

Willow blooms three times per year so this may be the predominate blossom. Winter sees no nectar production, honey is harvested in late summer and autumn.

After the kayaking adventure we anchor river-side on Sebastian's boat and relax with a Yerba Mate (South American tea) and pastries. Sebastian explained the Argentinian tradition of drinking a Mate with close friends and family and we chatted about life on the delta. I was especially pleased that his favorite use of honey was with his Mate. We enjoyed our honey-sweetened Mate and day-dreamed about living on the delta channel.

Paddling down the channel

Home on the channel

Luis and his daughter pose in front of their house on the channel.

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Further reading and resources
Kayak and Bike Tours with Sebastian in Rosario
La Casona De Don Jaime II Hostel in Rosario
Fellowship of Yerba Mate
Beekeeping in the Paraná Delta Region (.pdf – Spanish translated to English)
The Bee Photographer – Paraná Delta
Pollen Characteristics of Paraná Delta Honey (.pdf)
Wetlands International – Paraná Delta
Paraná River

The post Honey And The Paraná Delta Region – Rosario, Argentina appeared first on Honey Traveler.

Honey I'm Homemade by May Berenbaum

Berenbaum begins with a short history of honey, beekeeping and cooking with honey, touching on health and an interesting explanation of why honey is considered Kosher even though it breaks the normal rule of being the product of a non-kosher animal. She assembles a world-wide collection of traditional and family recipes for cookies, brownies, breads, muffins, pancakes, fried desserts, pies, puddings and cakes. Many of the recipes include the history and background of a particular recipe which makes for good reading and appreciation of the incredible depth of honey recipes in our human culture.

There are two distinct recipes for Baklava and a wide variety of American and traditional ethnic delights such as; 1st prize winning Staten Island Honey Cookies, German Pfeffernüsse, Swedish and Swiss Leckerli, German Aachener Printen, Polish Ciastka Miodowe, Jewish Hamentaschen, French Pain d’épices, Yemen Bint al-Sahn, Greek Loukoumades, eight types of honey pies and many more—142 recipes in total!

As a final tribute to honey and the plants and bees that produce it, sales of this book will contribute to the maintenance of the University of Illinois Pollinatarium, the first free-standing science center in the nation devoted to flowering plants and their pollinators.

Bon Apis-treat!

Other books by May Berenbaum: Ninety-Nine Gnats, Nits, and Nibblers; Ninety-Nine More Maggots, Mites, and Munchers; Bugs in the System: Insects and Their Impact on Human Affairs; Buzzwords: A Scientist Muses on Sex, Bugs, and Rock ‘n’ Roll; and the Earwig’s Tail: A Modern Bestiary of Multi-legged Legends.

Pictures of selected Honey, I’m Homemade recipes from a U of I student bake-off

The post New Honey Cookbook by U of I Entomology Professor, May Berenbaum appeared first on Honey Traveler.

Phorid Fly on Honey Bee

One of the key symptoms is the disappearance of entire colonies of bees, leaving few if any workers, empty hives with combs filled with honey and young larvae still encapsulated, and yet no significant signs of dead bees in or around the hive.

As CCD has spread around the world, so has research to find a cause for this perplexing phenomenon. Suspected causes range from viruses, fungus, pesticides, and bee management techniques to queen breeding and many more possible CCD causes.

New research describing how Apocephalus borealis, a phorid fly, affects honey bees in a manner that may explain their sudden disappearance. Published in PLoS ONE, January 3, 2012

This particular species is native to North America where it usually targets bumble bees, yellowjacket wasps, and a even black widow spiders as its hosts. But since honey bees are not native to North America, it seems to have adapted to these new hosts.

One of the primary symptoms of bees attacked by the parasite is a change of behavior which cause them to leave the hive at night and subsequently die. The phorid fly larvae were found in bees attracted to lights at night in the San Francisco area where the study was performed. Unlike other insects attracted to the light, the bees were disoriented; walking in circles or unable to stand and eventually died. Whether the parasite changes the behavior of the bee to cause it to fly out at night or whether the parasitized bee leaves in an attempt to protect the hive is unknown and further study is needed to understand the process.

A serious concern is that with the honey bee host, the phorid fly has a new vector that may enable it to spread throughout the world. Nevertheless, understanding the life cycle and exactly how the phorid fly affects the bee, and how to prevent the attack is the goal of this research.

Image Credit: Image provided with original paper.
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Further reading

Agricultural Research Service. Questions and Answers: Colony Collapse Disorder. Retrieved 12 January 2012, from http://www.ars.usda.gov/News/docs.htm?docid=15572

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Not so for the people of Poland, where Christmas continues to have a strong traditional and religious significance. Buoyed by a fervent Roman Catholic faith and passionately held traditions, Christmas continues to be a magical time of year for young and old alike in this central European country.

Christmas Market Wroclaw

Honeydew, Rape Seed, Acacia Honey from Poland

Although one of the leading producers of honey in Europe, Poland has a relatively low per capita consumption of honey of about 1 lb per year, compared to the U.S at 1.3 pounds and Germany at 2.5 lbs. Most of its honey is exported to Western Europe where it is known for it high quality.

Poland is considered a strong honey-producing nation and has been known for honey since medieval times when beekeeping was a notable profession and stealing bees or beehives was punishable by death! Common varieties of honey in addition to multifloral are; acacia, rape seed, linden, buckwheat, dandelion and heather varieties. Some rarer varieties include raspberry and goldenrod honey.

The Wroclaw Christmas Market runs from the end of November to Dec 23 and is located in the heart of Wroclaw, Poland on Świdnicka Street. But of course, honey may be purchased all year long from many bee product specialty shops and farmers’ markets round the city.

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References and further reading

Food From Poland Magazine
Lyson Beekeeping Products (Polish)
Wroclaw, Poland – Wikipedia

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Fresh Thistle - Golden Rod Honey - From Fitzpatrick Farm, IL

Late in October, we were looking for a likely beekeeper to visit within an hour or two drive of home. Hopefully we would have a nice drive, visit the countryside and buy some fresh honey. I’d called Dan Fitzpatrick a few weeks earlier but wasn’t able to arrange anything at that time. This time Dan confirmed it would be fine to drop by. He couldn’t say exactly where he might be, but he would be close and we should be able to hook up.

Fields of Wind Generators

We drove west on Hwy 30 through Shabbona, passed by several ‘fields’ of giant wind generators, and were soon driving into his farm on a county road near Earlville. Surrounded by planted fields, wild fields and forest, it was a lovely day, and his wife, young son and Dad were outside enjoying it. Dan is part of a line of multi-generational farmers who trace their family roots back to his great-great-great grandfather, David Fitzpatrick, who originally settled the property in the 1800′s. The story of the Fitzpatick family runs alongside the farmland he still lives on.

Dan Inspecting A Beehive

When he isn’t tending the farm, Dan teaches environmental science at the local public school, as well as intro to agriculture, agricultural science, biology, chemistry, physics, and anatomy. Not one to sit still, mentally or physically, Dan’s far-reaching interests are centered around nature and the outdoors. As a kid, his dream was to become a, “farmer scientist”—he is well on his way to accomplishing his goal.

While we were there, we tried wild persimmons, home-made cheese, inspected his apple tree grafting experiments, identified wild edible plants, wild mustard (Brassica species) and lambs quarters (Chenopodium album), which makes a seed similar to quinoa, and watched while he erected a deer platform on the edge of his wood land. All this and an excellent honey production tour.

Inspecting the hive for the late summer harvest and ensuring the bees have enough honey to last them through the winter.

Dan doesn’t use a backing as a foundation for the honey comb. Choosing a more natural and simpler method, he just embeds a line of popsicle sticks at the top of the frame for the bees to attach the honey comb. To harvest, simply crush the honey comb by hand into a sieve. In this case, through a single layer of cheese cloth for the ultimate in raw honey production.

After about a half hour of draining through the cheese cloth at the top of the bucket, open the gate, and fill our jar with a quart of incredible raw honey!

The post Harvesting Honey at the Fitzpatrick Farm – North Central Illinois appeared first on Honey Traveler.

The American Beekeeping Federation, along with the American Honey Producers, National Honey Packers and Dealers, Sioux Honey, and Western States Honey Packers and Dealers associations has been petitioning the FDA to adopt a proposed honey identity standard similar to the Codex Standard for Honey (adopted by the United Nations food and agriculture organization and the World Health Organization), since 2006, but the FDA has not acted. Florida and California have adopted a standard and Wisconsin is in the final stages of adopting a voluntary honey certification standard.

Without a standard of identity, honey that we buy may or may not be made entirely from honey. This will protect consumers and beekeepers alike by stopping deceptive manufacturing processes of other countries as well as raising the bar for our own production, increasing the quality and therefore the value of this important natural food.

Sale of honey and Wisconsin certified honey; rules, prohibitions. Statute: 100.187 (Updated here 1-30-2013)
Standard of Identity as adopted in Florida (Updated here 1-30-2013)
Act to amend Section 29413 of the California Food and Agricultural Code, relating to honey.
PDF New York Standard of Identity for Honey Proposal American Beekeeping Federation Press Release
Proposed Codex Standard of Honey Submitted by the ABF

The post Senators Urge FDA to Adopt Honey Identity Standard appeared first on Honey Traveler.

On our way to visit Lake Geneva, WI, we investigated this unassuming barn-shaped store with a giant mushroom painted on the end. It was quite a find—not only an excellent source of locally grown products both prepared and fresh, but a nice selection of local honey, with a surprising supply of some hard-to-find Italian honeys.

River Valley Ranch

It is located in Slades Corners at the intersection of Hwy 50 and County Road ‘P’ about 8 miles due east of beautiful Lake Geneva and the same distance south of Burlington WI.

River Valley Kitchens Outlet

With a large sign declaring, “Fresh Mushrooms – Open Year Round” you might imagine rows of tables covered in mushrooms, but although freshly grown mushrooms are a specialty (grown across the highway), they produce a wide selection of locally grown products, including pickled vegetables, salsas, chutney, soups, spreads, pasta sauces, brushetta, giardinera, dips and fresh vegetables. Most, if not all, of the prepared foods are made on site.

From their brochure, you wouldn’t know that honey played a big role in their offerings, but it does! They had three brands of honey:

Wisconsin Natural Acres Honey

Wisconsin Natural Acres Honey

Located in Chilton, WI, Natural Acres produces a multifloral honey primarily from the nectar of Alfalfa, Clover, and the Basswood tree. They move their beehives near these nectar sources, choosing only areas where organic or natural farming is done. They produce raw honey from their bees with no heating and no blending or filtering, ensuring the best tasting, most healthful honey possible. We purchased a jar of this honey to try later. It was amber colored, medium sweet, with a delicate aroma and medium persistence.

My Honey Co.

My Honey Co.

Located in Richmond, IL, My Honey Co. is as family-owned business since 1975, producing a wide selection of bee products from Wisconsin sources, including Wildflower honey (mainly golden rod and aster from the fall), Cranberry honey from Cranberry bogs of Wisconsin and Clover honey. Only Clover honey was offered here. No additives and raw honey is produced to ensure flavor and healthful qualities.

Mieli Thun

Mieli Thun

Quite a surprise to find this honey well represented here. Mieli Thun is one of the premier honey production companies in Italy from the northern province of Trento, about a 3 hour drive from Milan or Venice. Winners of the Grandi Mieli d’Italia for the last 7 years for at least five honeys each year. Well known for a wide variety of single flower honeys, I found Thyme (timo), French Honeysuckle (sulla), Eucalyptus (eucalipto), Chestnut (castagno), Wild Carrot (carota selvatica) -*rare*, and Sunflower (girasole).

Wisconsin Honey Sweetened Root Beer

Wisconsin Honey-Sweetened Root Beer

We purchased some fresh veggies and root beer for a snack. I was pleasantly surprised to see the gourmet root beer, made by Sprecher Brewing Co. of Milwaukee, was sweetened with raw Wisconsin honey!

..dark honeyed brew..

Later, upon closer examination of the ingredient label I discovered the primary sweetener was glucose syrup, then malto-dextrin, followed by WI Raw Honey. I suppose the product development folks need to catch up with the marketing folks. Nevertheless, you are on the right track Sprecher! Perhaps the next new and improved version will declare, “Now Made With Even More Raw Honey!” and WI Raw Honey will be the first (and only) sweetener on the label. Or if that isn’t feasible, and since Sprecher also brews beer, perhaps we can look forward to the introduction of a true WI Honey Mead?!

River Valley Kitchens Farm Store
39900 W. 60th Street (map)
Burlington, WI 53105
1-888-711-7476

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