Tupelo honey ~ if ever there was a type of honey with romantic undertones then this is it. It is no wonder Van Morrison chose this as a title to his well know song by the same name and included the lyrics "She’s as sweet as tupelo honey, just like honey from the bee"
The marvelous deceased Peter Fonda cut a fine figure of a man as an actor way into the business of beekeeping, an art he learned from his father in the 1977 and the role in the film named "Ulee’s Gold"
Ulee means "the old way of doing things" and so he did. Working just as his father had and his father before him, moving his own hives and lifting heavy barrels of honey it was as if he were part of the honey bee ~ team.
"The bees and I have an understanding, I look after them and they look after me" was his belief and he wasn’t wrong! He depicted this very well by keeping calm around his bees, something we should all do.
The "Gold" was of course the tupelo honey he worked with his honey bees to make in the swampy forests of Florida. To be fair to all good beekeepers they all take great care when producing their own honey varieties.
What Does This Honey Look Like?
Really golden and at times some say with a greenish hue. You will know if you have found a real and pure tupelo honey as this quite often has a little foam which is in fact tiny beeswax particles which have settled on the top.
Please don’t be alarmed at this, most honey will display this as tiny air bubbles float to the top when it is extracted from the comb and bottled. It means you have an unfiltered, unheated and special kind of raw organic honey.
What Does This Honey Taste Like?
White Tupelo is very, very sweet, with a high percentage of fructose to sucrose; this makes it almost impossible to crystallize.
It tastes heady and perfumed and depending on your own palette will taste florally or as if you have tasted the sweet air of a pine forest.
White tupelo gum tree blossoms are the source of nectar for this highly prized and sought after honey.
Black tupelo honey, although sweet, produces a darker type of honey from the blossoms of the black tupelo gum tree.
This honey is very much preferred by many who love to experiment in the art of cooking with honey and will crystallize which makes it superb for this purpose.
Where Does does it ~ Grow?
Mainly in flooded forest areas in parts of Florida, Virginia, Louisiana and Georgia and along the Mississippi River. However, this honey is mainly only commercially produced in certain areas along the Choctawhatchee, Apalachicola and Ochlocknee rivers.
Commercial beekeepers for this type of honey keep their bee hives on top of platforms specially placed amongst the very tall gum trees during the spring. The reason being that swamps tend to flood and this keeps the hives out of harms way.
The "black blossoms" grow first and then early April to early May the white blossoms burst into bloom, I can almost imagine the excitement in the hives as they anticipate their next job!
To produce the white variety the beekeepers are very particular with their equipment. These are scrupulously cleaned to ensure no other nectar is mixed as it wouldn’t be pure, a true Organic honey, such a rarity!
This honey is the taste of honey that even diabetics can benefit from although this really must be checked with your own doctor beforehand to ensure you know how much honey is allowed in your diet.
Would you like to see Tupelo Honey Beekepers in Action? The video below is facinating to watch. Enjoy.
