Question about honey for CDTTMM

[rosarugosa]

MY DH asked a question today and I thought you would have the answer. We have a jar of local "blueberry" honey, which I believe means the bees were collecting pollen from blueberry blossoms. How does the beekeeper know just who is pollinating what? How can one control which is the blueberry honey and which is the clover honey, for example?
Thanks is advance for any insights you can provide.

[cdttmm]

Hi rosarugosa, great question! Yes, blueberry honey is honey that is made from the nectar and pollen of blueberry blossoms. Beekeepers who want to label and sell a honey as a varietal such as blueberry, clover, orange blossom, buckwheat, etc. take a few extra steps to insure that the vast majority of the nectar their bees are collecting is from the stated plant. They do this by setting up hives that have empty frames upon which the bees will draw honeycomb and then fill them with the most abundant available nectar source. Which means the hives are usually sitting amidst that particular blooming plant. Honeybees will fly up to 3 or 3.5 miles (in any direction) from their hive, but they are very organized and efficient, so if there is a strong nectar flow happening to the southwest of them, they won't fly northeast looking for something else to collect pollen and nectar from. Once the blueberries (or whatever flower the beekeeper is looking to have as a varietal honey) is done blooming, the beekeeper removes those frames and harvests the honey. Now you've got honey that can be jarred and labeled as that varietal.

Most honey is labeled as wildflower honey because it allows a beekeeper to just leave the frames in the hive until they are full or until the end of the season and only harvest at that point in time. This results in honey made from the nectar or a bunch of different plants that have bloomed throughout the season. Small scale (aka hobby) beekeepers usually do this because it's most efficient and cost effective (not that beekeeping is really all that cost effective, it's a hobby after all!).

Hope that helps! Since you're in Eastern MA, you might enjoy checking out Follow the Honey in Cambridge (http://www.followthehoney.com/) they have honey from around the world. It's a pretty cool place!

Let me know if you have any additional honey questions and I'll do my best to answer them!

[rosarugosa]

Thanks for the info! I knew you would be able to shed some light on that one for us!