Angkor Bee Farm Pure (Khmer) Wildflower Honey, Angkor, Cambodia

This honey was a gift from my friend Barbara who visited Angkor in Cambodia recently. Angkor is located in Cambodia's northern province of Siem Reap, north of Cambodia's Great Lake, Tonle Sap, and south of the Kulen Hills. And for her visit she was not alone. Apparently close to a million people visit this area each year. The main attractions are the many, many (1000+) temples of Angkor, with the temple of Angkor Wat, the 7th Wonder of the World, as the jewel of the crown. And it is not hard to see why. 

Angkor, Cambodia

But first a bit of history: Angkor, the capital city and the center of the Khmer Empire, was established by Jayavarman II in 802 AD. Angkor in Khmer means "Holy City," and at its peak it was a mega city. In 2007, satellite photographs of the area showed that it may have been the largest pre-industrial city in the world. It had an elaborate infrastructure system connecting an urban sprawl of 1,000+ kilometers, and a complicated water management network. It is estimated that it could have supported up to a million people. 

Angkor Wat, the main temple located at the center of Angkor, was built in the 12th century by King Suryavarman II as a personal mausoleum. "Impressive" does not begin to describe it. It is perhaps the largest religious monument in the world, and a well preserved example of Khmer architecture. It is surrounded by a moat and the only entrance is via a causeway. It is a little confusing, however, because while "Angkor Wat" is the name of this single temple, it is often used to refer to the collection of hundreds of temples within the region. Other notable examples of Khmer architectures in the area include the Bayon (at Angkor Thom), Preah Khan and Ta Prohm temples.

Angkor Wat Temple

After King Suryavarman II's death there was a period of decline for the Khmer Empire and power struggles with the neighboring Cham people. But things turned around during King Jayayarman VII's reign. He built the walled city of Angkor Thom, defeated the Cham and replaced Hinduism with Buddhism. Then, in the 15th century the fortunes of the Khmer Empire changed for the worse. Thai invaders, pushed out of China by the Mongols, destroyed Angkor. The population dispersed and the Khmer Empire moved its capital to Phnom Pehn, which remains the capital of Cambodia today. The Angkorian period lasted from 802 AD to 1431 AD. Angkor was gradually swallowed up by rain forests and largely forgotten until the French explorer Henri Mouhot rediscovered it in 1860, shortly after which time it was summarily looted by the West. In 1907 restoration efforts began with areas of forest cleared, foundations repaired and drains installed. These efforts continue to the present, with a brief interruption during the 1970s Cambodian civil war. The area is now the Angkor Archeological Park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Of interest, the park has many inhabited villages, where residents farm, mostly rice. 


While honey collection has been practiced for a very long time in the region, it was, up until relatively recently, a smaller operation that supplied honey locally for household consumption. However, given increased demands, high honey prices, and support from the World Wildlife Foundation and the Non-timber Forest Products Exchange Programme (among other wildlife and environmental conservation groups), communities are being trained in sustainable honey harvesting techniques and honey processing. Honey harvesting promotes intact forests and offers communities an income not linked to de-forestation, and therefore promotes forest and wildlife conservation.  

Rafter Beehive

The two main native honeybee species in Cambodia are the Asian Hive honeybee (Apis cerano) and the Giant Asian honeybee (Apis dorsata). If I understand correctly, traditionally honey is not so much produced via bee keeping as collected in Cambodia. Honey hunters go into the forest and locate raft hives ("rafters") and collect honey, or create conditions that induce bees to begin a hive (i.e. place long pools at 30 degree angles to the ground in strategic locations) and go back to harvest honey from the hive when it is more established. However honey was not generally harvested in a sustainable way. The entire comb was harvested (i.e. cut-once-take-all) and some honey hunters used insecticides or fire that destroyed the colony to minimize bee stings. Current practices, however, are to harvest in a sustainable way. Honey hunters now leave enough of the comb behind (the "honey head") for bees to remake it. Bees Unlimited, run by Dani Jump, an American-born beekeeper who has lived in Cambodia for 20 years, offers training in indigenous beekeeping and also does tours of local communities where you can see rafter beekeeping up close. This sounds like it would be a real treat. So, if you are in the area, do check it out.

Angkor Bee Farm photo from facebook

My Khmer Wildflower Honey is produced by the Angkor Bee Farm, a relatively new outfit that is run by Papa Pat Khmom. It was established with the help of world renowned and passionate French bee specialist Bernard Nicollet, who promotes beekeeping that is in tune with nature. M. Nicollet refers to himself as a "shepherd of bees" ("berger des abeilles"). He has invented tools for bee keeping, and taught, and written books and articles on the subject. In fact, he has also helped the police identify and recover stolen beehives. 

From the Angkor Bee Farm website and facebook page it looks like they use box hives and a more traditional (at least from the Western perspective) approach to beekeeping and honey harvesting. 

Angkor Bee Farm Wild Flower Honey

My wildflower honey was produced in 2014. I think this is the first year that the Angkor Bee Farm produced honey. The website doesn't describe the floral sources so I don't know what "wildflowers" were involved. The honey is very clear, pale yellow with little or no particulate matter. I thought the honey would be very thin, but in fact it has some weight to it, although I would not call it thick. It is a medium sweet honey with a very particular taste. It starts with a mellow molasses flavor that becomes a light floral taste with menthol and fruity overtones. It is very tasty! I can't find a way to buy it online but the Angkor Bee Farm's website does have contact information for anyone who wants to inquire if they ship.

Knocknarea Honey, Grange, Sligo, Ireland

I got this honey from my friend John. His wife is Irish and he often goes to Ireland to visit family. He was there this summer and brought me back this honey which comes from Sligo (SLY-goh) county, on the North West coast of Ireland in the province of Connacht.
 

Sligo, on the northwest coast of Ireland

Sligo, a town also in Sligo county,  is a coastal seaport and the commercial center of the county with a population of about 20,000 residents. It is in a beautiful region, located on the banks of the Garavogue river and surrounded by the Benbulben and Truskmore mountains to the north, the Slieve, Daeane and Killery mountains to the southeast, Cope's and Keelogyboy mountains to the northeast, the Atlandic ocean and Queen Maeve's Knocknarea to the west, and the Ox mountains to the south.

"Sligo" comes from the Irish: Sligeach which means "abounding in shells" or "shelly place." It is thought that this refers to the abundance of shellfish found in the river Garavogue and its estuary, as originally the river Garavogue was called "Sligeach." 

The area has been inhabited for a very long time and the area around Sligo has one of the highest densities of prehistoric archaeological sites in Ireland. Two of the most notable sites are: Knocknarea mountain capped by the great cairn of Miosgan Maeve and Cairns Hills, with it two large stone cairns. Sligo bay is an ancient natural harbor that has seen Greek, Phoenician and Roman traders in its time.

Cairns near Sligo, looking towards Knocknarea

The Norman knight Maurice Fitzgerald, the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, is credited with the establishment of the medieval town and port of Sligo, and in 1245 he built the Castle of Sligo. Sligo was a strategically desirable port and many warrior clans fought to gain control of it. It was reported to have been burned, sacked, or besieged about 49 times during the medieval period!

In more recent history, the town suffered badly during the cholera epidemic of 1832, with the majority of the population dying from it. Some speculate that Bram Stoker, whose mother was born in Sligo in 1818 and experienced the epidemic first hand (and survived), was influenced by her stories of the epidemic when he wrote Dracula. Not long after the cholera epidemic came the Great Famine of 1847 and 1851 which also greatly affected the region. Sligo county, like many others in Ireland, was a center of emigration in the 1800s, with Sligo's port offering passage to New York, Boston, Quebec City, and St. John's. From 1851 to 1901, 75,660 individuals from the area emigrated, mostly to North America. If you are of Irish heritage and your ancestors may have come from Sligo county, there is a great website to help you trace your heritage.

Sligo country is also known as "Yeats" country after native son and poet, William Butler Yeats, who is laid to rest in Sligo soil in the Drumcliffe churchyard. Yeats grew up in the area and many of his poems are inspired by his childhood memories there.

"The Lake Isle of Innisfree" is an example:

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattled made;
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,
And live alone in the bee loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart's core

W.B. Yeats

Knocknarea showing Maeve's Cairn

Knocknarea (1,078 feet high) ("hill of the stripes," "hill of the executions," "hill of the kings," or "hill of the moon," depending on whom you ask) is a striking landmark in the area- a solitary flat-topped mountain with its ancient 200 foot long by 40 foot high cairn (Meascan Meadhbha or Maeve's Cairn), visible from all sides for miles around. The cairn is thought to conceal a neolithic passage tomb dating from 3,000 BC. Yeats referred to Knocknarea as "the Land of Heart's Desire." You can reach the top of the mountain and the cairn on a well worn path, and it is tradition to pick up a stone on the way and leave add it to the cairn.

The apiarist behind my Knocknarea honey is Keithe Clarke, and, if the internet is to be believed, he is a man of many interests and passions. He is a butcher, who took over his father's business in Sligo, a tour operator who gives offshore island tours (Inishmurray island Tours), and an apiarist. In an interview in 2010 he says that he decided to make his own honey because he liked honey but it was very expensive. "He bought two hives from a schoolteacher in Ballina who taught him everything about beekeeping." The rest, as they say, is history.

Mr. Clarke produces a number of varieties of honey: light flower, dark blossom, chunk, heather, granulated and creamed. On his website he states that this year was a good year for whitethorn suggesting that it was a significant flower source for his current batches.

Whitethorn (Crataegus monogyna)

Whitethorn refers to many different plants, but given the geographical preferences of each, it is likely that in Ireland it refer to Crataegus monogyna (aka common hawthorn), a native of Europe.  It is a shrub with a dense crown that reaches 5-14 meters. Flowers are produced in late spring, and are a favorite of bees. It is commonly planted as a hedge plant and it makes for good firewood. The fruit, which looks like a read berry and is called "haws," are edible raw but more commonly used for jellies, jams, syrups, wine or to add flavor to brandy.

If you are interested lists and descriptions of other flora of the country can be found on the Sligo walking club website and the Irish wildflowers site.


My Knocknarea honey is cold pressed honey that has a classic, mellow, clear, yellow-golden color. It has a subtle floral scent, and is very thin and runny. It is an uncomplicated honey with a clean taste of sweetness that has an delicate undertone of molasses and something else, something floral. The floral flavor is so delicate and fleeting that I can't easily describe it. Given its texture and consistency this honey would be a perfect for drizzling on plain yoghurt or on hot cereal. It would also be good in any tea where you don't want to alter the flavor but do want honey sweetness.

Knocknarea Honey

You can't directly purchase this honey from Mr. Clarke's website but there is a link on it to address any inquiries about it to him. Or, you'll just have to make a trip to beautiful Sligo and pick some up on the way back from laying a pebble on Maeve's Cairn on Knocknarea.

Miele Millefiori (Wildflower Honey), Monterosso al Mare, Cinque Terre, Italy

My friend Barbara recently came back from a trip to Italy and she brought back this honey for me. During her time there she visited the province of La Spezia in the Liguria region of Northern Italy. In this region you'll find a rugged section of the Italian Riviera and a cluster of five villages- Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore- that are known collectively as Cinque Terre, "The Five Lands." The coastline, the villages and surrounding land are part of the Cinque Terre National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site created in 1999.

The Village of Riomaggiore

It isn't hard to see why this area was designated as a World Heritage Site. Over the course of generations inhabitants have built into the rugged, steep landscape creating a magical place. Adding to the charm is the fact that you can not easily reach Cinque Terre by car (Monterosso al Mare is connected to the E80 via a narrow, steep and winding road that has been described as "absolutely not practical"); the area is more accessible by sea or train (built in 1870). There are also mule paths that connect the five villages, and link them to the Via Roma, the main road that connected all of Italy to Rome. Many of the original mule paths are now within the national park system and continue today as hiking trails that offer spectacular views of the sea and the region. You'll notice that houses in these villages are painted a variety of colors. The story goes that when the men went out to fish they wanted to be able to identify their own homes easily, so they each painted their homes in a different, bright color.   

Italy, Cinque Terre is found on the coast in the North

Cinque Terre has been mentioned in historical documents from as early as the 11th century. The villages grew under the rule of the Republic of Genoa and defensive structures and fortifications were built in the 16th century as a defense against the Turks. The completion of the railroad in 1870 made the area less isolated and efforts in the 1970s to promote the area to tourists made it a major tourist attraction.

The terraced lands around Cinque Terre produce wine (Cinque Terre and Sciachetra) and olives, and the area is known for its Genoese pesto sauce, focaccia bread, lemons, seafood (Monterosso is particularly known for its anchovies), grappa and limoncello- the last two being a type of brandy and a sweet liqueur flavored with lemons, respectively. Of note, Corniglia, one of the five villages, is also known for a gelato flavor made with local honey called (rather descriptively) as "miel de Corniglia."

The Village of Monterorosso la Mare

My honey, however, is from the village of Monterosso al Mare, the western most of the five villages. It is easy to distinguish Monterosso from the rest of the villages because it is the only one with a sandy beach and has the bell tower of a San Francesco church as a prominent feature.

There are many micro-climates in the area and as a consequence there is an abundance of floral diversity: oak, Aleppo pine, chestnut, sea fennel, rue, heather, rosemary, lavender, myrtle, red juniper, madder, honeysuckle and sarsaparilla, to name a few honey sources. As you can imagine this lush landscape produces a variety of honeys, notable among them are: heather, acacia, chestnut and wildflower.

Wildflower Honey, Monterosso al Mare, Italy

My honey is harvested by Cantina Sassarini and from what I can gather, which isn't much since I don't speak or read Italian, is that the Sassarini family also produces pesto, wine and olive oil. Giancarlo Sassarini is the apiarist of the family and produced my honey. However, the jar suggests that the honey is distributed by Brezzo S.r.l., a large player in the Italian honey market. I found a website for the Brezzo family business and they package and distribute a variety of honey from Italy and France.

My wildflower honey is opaque and has a dull golden, tan color. It has already completely crystallized, but not in big chunks, more with a uniform consistency that you see in whipped honey. It has the heady smell of summer flowers that reminds me of dandelions on a hot summer day. It twirls easily on my toothpick, a little in sheets. The crystallized consistency gives it a bit of texture, but this melts quickly. It isn't overly sweet and has distinct floral overtones with a subtle hint of molasses, then a clean sweetness with a menthol-herbal aftertaste. This is a somewhat complex and very tasty honey. Given the texture it would be perfect on toast, but may not be runny enough for drizzling on plain yoghurt. It would also add a subtle floral flavor to teas, but may be overpowered by a strong tea.

I couldn't find an online seller for this honey, so you'll just have to make a note to stock up next time you are in Cinque Terre!  

Maquis, Miel du Pays D'Oc, Monséret, France

View from the ruins of Peyrepertuse to the ruins of Queribus

We were recently in Aude, in the Languedoc-Roussillon region in the south of France. It is near the Mediterranean coast and the border of Spain. It is an absolutely beautiful area of France and I highly recommend a visit. Between visiting world renown, local vineyards, sampling wines and local cuisine (cassoulet, a rich, slow-cooked casserole containing meat (usually pork, sausages, goose or duck), pork skin and white beans, is a specialty, especially in the Carcassonne area), visiting abbeys and castles (this is the area of the "Cathar" castles; pictured is Peyrepertuse, one of my favorites), and hiking through some breathtaking scenery, there is a lot to see and do. 

Monséret, France (in red, lower right area)

On one side trip we visited a miellerie in Monséret, La Miellerie de Clauses.  Monséret is a small wine-producing village in the wine district of Corbiers and the miellerie is found on the outskirts of the village in an area of wild scrubland. During the summer season the miellerie offers educational tours of their facility and pony ride tours through fields where their honey is collected.  They do everything from tending hives, to extracting honey, to distributing it. We, unfortunately, were there before the season began so we didn't get an up close view of their production and had to be content with sampling the varieties of honey a their store's honey tasting bar (rosemary, forest, thyme, acacia and others) and perusing other honey products that they make and sell (honey cake, and mead among others).  One of the honeys that they produce is maquis honey, a honey I've never had before. I also didn't know exactly what "maquis" was.

La Miellerie de Clauses

Maquis isn't a flower source but a biome (geographically contiguous area with similar climatic conditions, also referred to as an "ecosystem") in the Mediterranean region. It generally is made up of densely growing shrubs including holm oak, sage, juniper, buckthorn, spurge olive and myrtle (among others) and is found throughout the Mediterranean Basin. The name comes from the plural of the Italian "macchia" which means "thicket." Maquis, given its height and density, provides ideal cover for bandits and guerrillas, and its name has been used to refer to a few guerrilla movements, notably the Maquis in World War II, a band of the French Resistance, and the Spanish Maquis, a guerrilla group that fought against the Franco regime in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War. Interestingly, it has also been used as the name of the fictitious anti-Cardassian resistance movement in an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.  Members of the Maquis were known as "maquisards" and the Italian for "becoming a fugitive" is "darsi alla macchia."

Maquis near Monséret, France

Maquis is similar to the English heath, but with taller (and different) shrubs and it tends to be found in arid, rocky areas supportive of drought-resistant plants. Maquis is also similar to "garrigue." Both are translated as "scrubland" in French. However, maquis is more dense than garrigue and grows in more acidic soil, whereas garrigue is associated with low bushes growing widely spaced from each other on base rich soils (i.e. limestone). Both maquis and garrigue are found in the Mediterranean basin and the two terms are often used interchangeably.

Maquis honey, Meillerie de Clauses, Monséret, France

My maquis honey is an opaque, mellow, orange-brown color. It is nearly all crystals a, so possible a quick crystallizer. It has a heady, summer flower aroma, faintly floral but with herbal and vaguely menthol overtones. I can almost feel the heat of a Mediterranean sun beating down and hear the sound of cicadas and bees. It isn't overly sweet and the medium sized crystals dissolve quickly, so it doesn't have an overly grainy texture. It has a robust herbal, grassy, earthy taste that is slightly bitter, reminiscent of thyme or forest honey, with a very subtle, fleeting, floral and menthol after taste. Very tasty. It may be too strong for a delicate herbal tea, unless you want to add additional flavor, but probably a good choice for a dense honey cake or mixed into thick, plain yoghurt. Right out of the jar it is pretty good too!

Carrot Honey, The Bee Folks, Mount Airy, MD

I don't often think of carrots as having flowers, but they do. The reason, I think, is that most of us dig up our carrots at the end of the summer and don't let them flower or seed. You see, carrots are a biennial crop. This means that they develop their tap root (the bit we think of as a carrot) in the first summer and then they flower and seed in the next. Since most of us don't keep carrots around for that long, to get carrot flowers, in order to get carrot honey, you really need to put  hives near a carrot seed grower- a farmer who grows a carrot crop not for carrots but for the seeds. 

carrots

Domesticated carrots, Daucus carota subsp. sativus, are a form of wild carrot, Daucus carota, and are native to Europe and southwestern Asia. The domesticated variety comes from selectively breeding the wild one to produce larger, less woody taproots. Unlike domesticated carrots, you may have seen wild carrots flowing, but you may know them as Queen Anne's Lace (because of their beautiful, white lacy flowers).

Carrots have been around a long time. You can find carrots mentioned in texts as early as circa 500 B.C. in works by Epicharmus. However, the first recorded use of the word in English was around 1530. And if you've read Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor you may have noticed that he mentions them too. The word 'carrot' comes from the Middle French word "carotte," which comes from Late Latin, carōta, which is from the Greek, καρωτόν karōton, which is originally from the Indo-European, ker. This long linguistic history just underlines how carrots have been a part of our world for so long.  

Daucus carota flower

Carrots are root vegetables. While the most common varieties are orange in color, there are also purple, white, red and yellow types too. However, in the past (1500 years ago) carrots were typically white and not always distinguished from parsnips. In addition, while we usually eat the root bit (the taproot), the green, leafy bits are edible too. 

The carrot flower is truly a lovely thing. The  carrot inflorescence (the complete flower head including stems, stalks, bracts and flowers) is a compound umbel (a type of inflorescence consisting of a number of short flower stalks, called pedicels, that spread from a common point like the ribs of an umbrella; the word umbel derives from the Latin umbella, "parasol."). In the carrot the umbel is compound, meaning that there are secondary umbels called umbellets (also referred to as umbellules). A large primary umbel can contain up to fifty umbellets, each with as many as 50 flowers. The flowers, which are white and sometimes tinged green, are dentripetal, meaning that the oldest flowers are near the edge and the youngest ones are in the center. Individual umbels flower for 7 to 10 days, but given the timing and complexity of the arrangement, the whole flowering process may take up to 50 days. Apart from the carrot, fennel, dill and parsley also have these types of flowers. Of interest to gardeners, if left to flower, umbellifers attract predatory wasps that kill many garden pests.

Carrot seeds

Carrots are a good source of vitamin A, K,  and B6, and dietary fiber and are prepared and cooked in a variety of ways and used in a variety of dishes, both sweet and savory. Not surprisingly, carrots are an economically important vegetable crop. China is the largest producer, accounting for about half of the global output, followed by Russia and the US. Of interest, about 3.6 percent of people are allegic to carrots, and since the major carrot allergen is cross-reactive with similar allergens in birch and mugwort pollen, most people who have a carrot allergy also are allergic to these pollens.

Carrot Honey

 I ordered the carrot honey that I have online from The Bee Folks, in Mount Airy, MD. According to their lovely website, this honey comes from farms in the Pacific Northwest that specialize in carrot seed production. Of interest, I've read that Oregon is famous for its seed production, including carrot seeds, so this honey may come from there.  It has a deep, amber-red color and is quite thick. It has a very interesting and complex flavor. It starts out floral with an almost musky, grassy tone that gradually become spicy and a little smoky, a cross between the taste of Indian incense and anise, and then it ends with a cooked carrot kind of taste. I know my description sounds odd, but it is difficult to describe and this is as close as I can get to it. You'll just have to order some and see for yourself! I think this honey may be too complex to use in baking; I think you'd lose the flavor. But it is delicious out of the jar, and would be quite nice in hot cereal, on hot buttered toast, and perhaps in dark hot tea.

Siziphus (Ziziphus) Blossom Honey, Jordan Valley, Israel

I found this siziphus (also referred to as "ziziphus") honey locally. It was imported by Oxygen Imports, but it originated from the Jordan valley in Israel.

The sources of the Jordan river (for there are many) mainly come from the Anti-Lebanon mountains in Syria. The river flows down to the Sea of Galilee and then drains into the Dead Sea. However, I learned that "Jordan valley" generally only applies to the lower course of the Jordan river from where it exits the Sea of Galilee in the north, to the end of its course where it flows into the Dead sea in the south. This segment of the valley is also known as the "Jordan Rift valley." It encompasses an area of about 120 km long and 15 km wide, and forms the border between Jordan to the east, and Israel and the West Bank to the west. The river has major significance to Judaism and Christianity, and to a lesser extent Islam; the Israelites crossed into the Promised Land from the Jordan river, and Jesus was baptized in its waters by John the Baptist.

Map showing the Jordan River and Valley

 The Jordan Rift valley, which boasts a Mediterranean climate, is an exceptionally fertile agricultural region and has been for thousands of years. [As an aside, I came across one reference that credits the fertility of the place to its "alluvial soil." I don't come across too many references to "alluvial" and I found it very poetic.] Modern methods of farming, including newer irrigation techniques and the introduction of portable greenhouses, have made the area even more productive. Crops include citrus, dates, grapes, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants, melons and bananas, among others. In fact, I read that this area of the Jordan valley produces the majority of Jordan's food.

Beekeeping is as old as farming, so it is not surprising to learn that this area has a tradition of beekeeping that dates from ancient times. In fact, I came across a website about beekeeping in Jordan that states that shards of ancient pottery were found that outlined the rules of beekeeping. In addition, there are many references in the Koran, the Bible and other religious texts about honey from the region.

Zizphus spina christi Tree

The honey I have is siziphus honey. "Siziphus," also sometimes spelled "ziziphus," refers to about 40 species of spiny shrubs and trees that are found in warm-temperate and subtropical regions around the world. These shrubs/trees produce sweet fruit, not unlike a date (called a jujube among other names), that is eaten fresh or dried, or used in jams and candies.

Ziziphus spina christi flowers

The species most commonly found in the Mediterranean region and specifically in the Jordan valley, is the Ziziphus spina-christi variety (also known as Christ's Thorn Jujube or Middle Eastern Acacia), so named because the thorny crown that Jesus wore prior to his crucifixion was thought to be made from branches of this tree. This species originated in tropical Sudanese and arrived in the area some 6,000 years ago. A pair of stipules at the base of each of its leaves turn into hard thorns making it a very thorny tree. It also has the distinction of becoming quite large (up to 10 meters) and quite old (500+ years) if grown in the right conditions. It mainly blooms between March and October. Its flowers are small, pale yellowish, shaped like five-pointed stars, grouped like grapes, and produce a lot of nectar. The fruit are small, yellowish or orange-brown balls, each containing a single, large seed.

Ziziphus spina christi fruit

Of interest, there are honey bees local to the region, Apis mellifera syriaca. While they survive the heat and drought, and are good at withstanding mite and wasp attacks, they are nervous and aggressive making them less desirable than European bees, which are more docile and easier to work with. As a consequence European bees have been imported over time and subsequent interbreeding between the two have diminished the native Syrica populations.

The apiary that produced the honey I have is Ein Harod Apiary. It was established about 80 years ago in Kibbutz Ein Harod near Harod spring, the biblical site of Gideon's spring. They produce a variety of honeys including: citrus, wildflower, avocado, star thistle, and siziphus, and have a lovely website. In addition to all sorts of information about them and their honey, they also have honey recipes. While I haven't tried it out yet, the honey cake recipe looked particularly yummy.

Siziphus Blossom Honey

My honey is very (very) clear and golden yellow. I thought it would be thin and runny as a result but am surprised that it is quite thick. It almost has a gummy texture as a result. It is not too sweet and has a subtle floral taste with a hint of molasses. Overall, it is a very tasty honey. It's thickness would make it perfect drizzled in Greek yoghurt, and it would also be a good in baking; I can't wait to try it in the Ein Harod's honey cake recipe.

Cotton Honey, From the Bee Folks, Mount Airy, MD

I came across a reference to cotton honey recently, and until then I never really thought about cotton flowers being a source for honey, but it makes sense. Cotton has flowers, after all. I’ve since read that cotton is one of the leading honey plants in the southern United States, which makes a lot of sense given how much cotton is grown there.

Cotton bolls

Why hadn’t I come across cotton honey before? Why isn’t it as common as clover honey? Well, the fact is that it may be, although it isn’t advertised as cotton honey; cotton honey is often blended with clover and wildflower honeys to make “generic” honey- honey that has a taste that reflects what most Americans think of as “honey” (think supermarket honey in the plastic bear containers). About 70% of cotton honey in Texas is sold this way.

But I’m getting a little ahead of myself. First, here is a bit of information about the cotton plant: The cotton plant, part of the mallow family (related to okra, hibiscus, hollyhock and cocoa), is a tropical shrub that varies in size between 2 to 6 feet tall, depending on the variety. It has been grown for thousands of years for its fiber, and cotton seed oil and meal. It does well in warm temperate climates and is grown in the Arkansas Delta, Texas and Southern California (among other hot places) in the states. Of note, the Black Prairie area of Texas produces so much cotton that between one-half to one-fifth of all honey in the state produced is cotton honey.

States that grow cotton and produce cotton honey

Cotton blossoms are large and start out white turning to yellow, and then after a day turn to pink, then fuschia red. They look a little like hibiscus flowers. Of interest, bees collect nectar from both internal (i.e. from inside the flower- the usual way) and external sources (i.e. from secretions along the underside of the leaf and outside the base of the flower). I found this really interesting. I’ve never heard of external sources of nectar before. When the cotton flower is white or yellow, bees collect nectar from internal sources and when the flower turns pink, they move to external sources.  Flowering starts in June and continues until the first frost, at which time the plant dies. This makes for a very long flowering season and offers a nectar source for bees at times of the year when not much else is flowering, at least not in the southern states (late summer through fall). As one southern beekeeper put it on a beekeeper’s forum, “We had a lot of cotton honey this year--as there is absolutely nothing else blooming in South Alabama in July and August.”

Cotton plant showing white and fuschia flowers

However, cotton is not a very hardy plant and hard to grow organically. Farmers often rely heavily on herbicides and insecticides. In fact, I read that more pesticides are used on cotton in the Unites States than any other single crop. This is a BIG problem for bees and the source of much discussion on beekeeper forums. One question I had was why cotton farmers don’t limit chemical use to protect the honey bees that are pollinating their crop? They rely on having healthy honey bees for a crop, don’t they? Well, yes and no. Cotton farmers don’t have the same relationship with honey bees that farmers of others crops do (like almond farmers who completely rely on honey bees for pollination, for instance). Yes, honey bees can pollinate their crops but they aren’t the only pollinators, and some suggest that “cotton needs little assistance from insects.” And if farmers don’t use chemicals, they don’t have a crop to pollinate, so it is a trade-off, with chemicals generally winning.

Cotton Fields

Reading through archives of beekeeping forums on the subject showed that beekeepers are talking a lot about the use of chemicals in cotton production. But it is a little more complicated than just chemicals; genetically modified (GM) types of cotton are also available that make cotton resistant to the chemicals and/or insects. While chemicals are toxic to honey bees, the GM varieties may affect nectar yields, with some varieties producing next to zero nectar. Here are a few examples from the beekeepers forum to give you an idea of what they are saying:

“I believe the new Round Up [pesticide] tolerant Pima yields nearly zero nectar.”

“I can’t speak to Roundup Ready cotton [GM cotton that provides resistance to pesticides], but I know that local farmers are using BT-cotton [GM cotton that provides resistance to boll weevil] and the nectar yields seems great.”

“In California I spoke with a guy who specifically avoided placing hives near cotton. He felt that the honey was fine enough but it was a good way to poison your bees. He was alluding to the frequent use of insecticides in the Central valley.”

“My bees seem to ignore the cotton. Most cotton in my area is now BT cotton and Round up ready. The cotton blooms a long time but I never noticed much bee activity.”

“I used to get cotton honey but haven’t for the last 3 years. I assume it is because of the engineered cotton being used these days.”

“Putting bees on cotton here is pretty much a death sentence. They still spray here for the boll weevil. Which you’re OK unless they find a weevil in the trap. Then it’s an all out aerial attack.”

To minimize chemical exposures of their bees, beekeepers develop working relationships with cotton farmers so they are told when sprays are happening and then can move their hives. ‘The farmers that I put them on let me know if they spray and I come in and move them out for a few days. They don’t have to spray much but they do spray from time to time.”

Thankfully, with the introduction of insect-resistant (GM) varieties of cotton, and boll weevil eradication programs, there may be less need for chemical spraying. This may be good news for cotton honey producers, if the new varieties also have nectar flows.

“I talked to a cotton farmer here in the Texas panhandle and he plants BT cotton. He told me he hasn’t sprayed cotton in 4-5 years. Just doesn’t need it. I plan on putting my hives on the cotton and work a relationship with him that IF he sprays he’ll tell me first.” 

If the chemicals and genetic engineering doesn’t make it complicated enough, there are other reasons that make cotton a less than ideal crop for honey producers, specifically, its nectar flow is also very sensitive to soil conditions, climate and weather, making it an “unreliable” source of honey.

“[You can] make honey on BT cotton but it depends on the soil. Sandy soil works, Georgia red clay doesn’t produce.”

So, between chemical use that is toxic to bees, genetically modified varieties of cotton that may produce no nectar, and soil and weather conditions that may also negatively affect nectar, it is complicated to produce cotton honey. But if the stars are aligned, cotton does produce a good amount of honey, and it has a unique taste and quality.  For one, cotton honey is high in dextrose sugars that encourage fine granulation, making it a natural for creamed or whipped honey. In addition, some have stated that the flavor of cotton honey “matures.” It starts out tasting like the sap of the cotton plant (a pleasant earthy flavor a bit like cut grass) and then it develops a mild buttery flavor, with creamy tones and a tang. It is “sweet and a bit sassy.” Others have commented that is has subtle notes of cinnamon and anise.

Cotton Honey

I got my cotton honey online from the Bee Folks out of Maryland. I’ve bought from them before and have never been disappointed by the service or the quality of honey. Neither the website nor the jar have information about where it was collected, but it is an American honey, so somewhere down south. It is a very thin amber-yellow color. My honey hasn’t started to crystalize and is very runny. It has a smooth texture. It is very sweet with a slightly molasses, smoky flavor at the end, maybe this is the “tang” that other have mentioned. It is possible, as evidenced by no crystal formation, that my honey is still young and I’m at the “early flavor” phase, and that with time I’ll get more of a buttery flavor and creamy tones. In any case, it is a very nice honey that would work particularly well in baking and anywhere else that a sweeter honey is needed.