Wilde Huajilla Honey, Montgomery, Texas

Huajilla honey (Wa-Hee-Ya) if from a wild shrub that grows exclusively in south Texas and northern Mexico. The Reed Family Ranch, which was established in 1897 and is a working cattle ranch (dotted with bee hives), is the source of the Huajilla honey that I have. It comes to me courtesy of Texas friends Robert and Monique. 

Flowering Huajilla Shrub

 
The Reed Family (http://www.beewilde.com/home1.html) offer a variety of raw, minimally processed, unfiltered and upasteurzied honeys under the name "Bee Wilde Honey" as well as beeswax candles and bees (if you want to start a hive of your own). Wendy and Kenny Reed, who run the operation, do it all: produce, package, and distribute, and they are passionate about what they do. "Bee Wilde, Stay Wilde" is their philosophy of bees and honey. They know their land, know their bees and take great pride in the quality of the honey they produce. To see what honey is currently available, check out the link to their website. 

The Huajilla shrub is a wild shrub that grows to 2-10 feet tall.  It is a member of the acacia family. It has fern-like leaves made up of 5-9 pairs of pinnae and 30-50 pairs of leaflets and packs some ferocious spines. Its flowers are white and resemble mimosas. It blooms in the spring and does best in dry, drought like conditions. Lucky for us, this past year has been a dry one for Southern Texas and the Huajilla honey harvest has been a good one.

 

Wild Huajilla Honey

Huajilla honey is white or very light amber. My honey is a clear watery lemonade color. When I twirl it on a toothpick, it has very little color at all, just a hint of yellow. It is a relatively thick honey and granulates quickly. In face, I can already see the granules starting in mine, and I know it was harvested relatively recently. It has a thick texture, but it isn't creamy. It is viscous with granules that melt quickly. It has a delicate, simple flavor with a clear sweetness and a subtle hint of something floral. Given its texture, it is a good choice as a spreading honey. Given its clear taste with no overpowering flavors, it is also a good choice for teas.

 



  
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Wild Texas Guajillo Honey

A few years ago I visited my friends Robert and Monique in Houston, Texas and while I was there I picked up some wild Texas Guajillo (gwah-HEE-yoh) honey. I had no idea what kind of plant Guajillo is. A quick look online and I found out it is a wild desert bush (described as a medium sized shrub that can grow larger in some cases) with prickles that is a member of the acacia plant family, and is native to Southwestern Texas and Northern Mexico. It has white flowers that bloom from November to April, but mostly in March and April.

Apparently settlers in Uvalde County (southwest of Austin) in the 1870s discovered caves and hollow trees full of this honey. They capitalized on their find and soon became famous for producing and shipping honey all over the world. In 1900 (a good year for the settlers come apiculturalists), Uvalde County produced over 160,000 pounds of Guajillo honey and took first place at the Paris World's Fair (presumably for honey). In the region honey now figures in their folklore- with tales of bee-caves guarded by rattlesnakes and ghosts that have rooms filled with honey in pure white combs that are thirty feet thick. Wow. This I would like to see. Uvalde County seems like my kind of place. I'm surprised I've never heard of it before.

One site I found that sells Guajillo honey warns that: 'Guajillo honey is a light golden color. It it's dark... it ain't true Guajillo.' Consider yourself warned and be wary of all those who claim that their dark honey is the real thing.

The Guajillo honey I have is indeed a light golden color (so far, so good). And it comes in a very nice glass jar. Native Nectar out of San Antonio packages the honey I have. The site says that the honey is "bottled in a one pound Italian green glass jar, which is in the shape of an ancient Etruscan olive oil vessel." I'll give them this- the jar and presentation are one of the best I've seen for honey (and I've seen a lot of honey). Texans don't do things half way.

My honey has crystallized a little in the few years that I've had it but it still retains it light, golden color. The smell has an undertone of caramel. It is a very clear, runny honey in its liquid form. It has a very simple, light and delicate flavor with a very subtle (very subtle) flowery undertone. It is sweet but not overly sweet and has no hint of bitterness or any other strong flavor. The after taste is no different from the first taste. I think I was expecting something different- what with the green, glass jar in the shape of an ancient Etruscan olive oil vessel and the story of bee-caves guarded by ghosts (and having won first place at the 1900 Paris World's Fair). I think I was expecting something really unusual. This is not to say it isn't a good honey- it has a nice, simple flavor and a good, clear, smooth texture. It would be very nice in tea.

If anyone is interested and you are too far from Texas to get some locally, I found it for sale online at this site, but I think there is a typo in the price:

http://www.thunderheartbison.com/content/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=12&category_id=2&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=5&vmcchk=1&Itemid=5