Mixed Flower Honey

Although our bees will make monofloral honey from single types of flowers such as Borage or Heather, during much of the year they will gather honey from trees, hedgerows and areas of wild flowers that they can find. This mixed honey is harvested during the season and typically produces a range of golden coloured honeys which can be anything from deep amber to pale yellow in appearance.

The sort of flowers loved by honeybees are blackberries (brambles), Horse Chesnuts, Sycamore, Lime trees and weed plants such as Dandelions. Recently we have taken some hives to collect honey from the Himalayan Water Balsam which grows in the edge of rivers, canals and drains near to Goole.

Although water balsam (see photo right) is seen as a pernicious weed it is actually an escapee from gardens, introduced by Victorians who thought it would make a good garden plant.A relative of the Busy Lizzie it self seeds along waterways and chokes out other native plants.

For the bees though it is a bonanza! Bees returning to the hives after visiting the flowers are covered in white pollen like they have been dipped in flour. The honey they produce is a light amber in colour with a good flavour.