* This article first appeared in the September 2022 issue of Bee Culture Magazine. *
“Too many bee-keepers fail to realize that the selling of a crop is fully as important as its production. The business part of bee-keeping has been sadly neglected. No set rule can be given as to how a man shall dispose of his crop, but it does seem like very poor business management to send away a crop of honey to some commission merchant, and then sit around all winter when good wages might be made selling honey direct to consumers, or to retail dealers.”
W.Z. Hutchinson
Advanced Bee Culture (1905)
One of the more fruitful approaches that we have taken with our honey production is offering varietals. Since our farm employs only myself and wife Ella, we must obtain the highest return on investment (ROI) possible to compensate for the long, hot days spent in the outyards in addition to the toll that all of the heavy lifting takes on our backs. Many of you are likely in a similar situation, launching your beekeeping enterprise while still working an off-farm job, and paying for your startup with revenue generated from the latter. Since the first several years of any agricultural enterprise typically operates in the red, as you scrape together the funds to purchase equipment and supplies, you are likely not in a position to take on a crew of workers. Although it is more labor intensive, the demand for varietal honey is most certainly there and commands a premium price. Saaaawwweeeeeett right?
Varietal is a term that is typically found within the wine trade and refers to a wine comprised of a single, known grape variety. As it pertains to honey production, varietal can refer to the specific location where the honey was harvested from or if harvested from a predominantly seeded agricultural area where the producer is certain of the crop being grown, can refer to the plant nectar that the honey is comprised of. To complicate that matter further, the same plant nectars can differ annually by region depending upon the areas’ temperatures and rainfall amount.
For us, varietal pertains to our apiary locations and the seasons in which it is harvested. Since each location is in a different region with their own variety of “wild” plants growing seasonally, we cannot decisively identify all of the floral sources that our bees visit and hoard within their hives. This variety of plant nectars result in a subtle nuance of colors and unique flavors in the honeys that we harvest from our different beeyards. The additional effort that is needed to offer varietal honey doesn’t just stop with the seasonal collection of supers from multiple apiaries, but also extends throughout the process of extraction and jarring. The harvested supers are stored, extracted, and jarred separately by location and season. Over the years, we have come to expect certain types of honey from certain apiaries and our customers will often request specific varietals based upon the season and apiary location.
The Proof Is in the Honey
Some of you might have lost interest as soon as I mentioned performing multiple harvests per season, but it is quite rewarding when you do a side-by-side comparison and tasting of the finished product. Additionally, you get to revel in all of the positive feedback that your customers voluntarily shower you with. Growing up in a household that never purchased honey, I was surprised by the volume of positive feedback that we received immediately after we began offering our honey for sale. When lifelong connoisseurs of the sweet nectar started weighing in, stating things like “your honey is pure ambrosia”, it was clear that we must be doing something right, as the majority of all the other commercially available honey is highly adulterated, consisting of non-descript colors and flavors that consumers have grown accustomed to. When you offer a genuine, raw and minimally processed product, folks take notice to its quality and are obliged to shell out more for your craft.
The distinct colors, viscosity, flavors, and aroma of varietal honeys all come down to where our bees forage. In the United States, there are over three hundred different types of honey that originate from different floral sources. Some varietals even smell of the floral source to which they derived from. Their color spectrums can range from nearly clear to a dark brown, and flavors can vary from delectably mild to distinctively bold. As a general rule, the lighter-colored a honey is the milder in flavor it will be. As you approach the darker-colored varietals, you will start to notice a more robust zest on the tongue.
Honey is commercially produced in every state, with certain types of honey deriving from specific floral sources that only grow in certain regions. Clover honey, the most widely harvested varietal in the US, has a pleasing, mild taste and varies in color from nearly clear to amber depending upon the source of clover. Wildflower honey, another common varietal, is a broad term describing honey from miscellaneous and undefined floral sources. Some of the other widespread floral sources that comprise the bulk of the honey crop harvested during the spring and summer months are hard maples, numerous fruit trees and shrubs, dandelions, basswood, buckwheat, and alfalfa. Fall flows are not guaranteed and when they do occur, are highly prized by the beekeeper as they help to lessen the burden of fall feeding. During bumper years, however, the industrious beekeeper can reap one last harvest of her crop which results in a distinct honey deriving from our native aster and goldenrod families of flowers.
Another varietal that has received a lot of buzz in recent years although not in the typical sense that honey is used is Manuka honey harvested in New Zealand. This particular honey’s antibacterial properties are potent enough for it to be considered as an effective wound dressing. To pick at the scab a little further, there are a number of acids that are present within honey such as formic, citric, and gluconic. Gluconic is the dominant acid and is produced by the action of bee enzymes on some of the glucose molecules within the honey. The acidity boosts the antibacterial properties of honey, as most bacteria thrive in neutral conditions. Hydrogen peroxide is also produced by the production of gluconic acid, further inhibiting the growth of bacteria.
Honey Prices & Consumption on the Rise
In recent months, reports of honey shortages worldwide in conjunction with the ongoing efforts of the American Honey Producers Association (AHPA), have resulted in a gradual rise in domestic honey prices. Thanks to the AHPA, the testing of imported honey is now mandated and has directly impacted the volume of questionable “honey” that is now being imported into the U.S. Less honey means higher price yields for reputable honey producers here in the states who no longer need to compete with so much of the illegal dumping of questionable honey from Argentina, Brazil, India, Ukraine, and Vietnam.
In early 2020, the price paid to U.S. honey producers ranged from $1.50 – $1.80 per pound, but over the last several months has risen to the $2.30 – $2.50 mark on average. These prices are representative of wholesale, bulk or barrel prices which doesn’t incur the additional expense of individual jars, labels, and marketing to retail outlets. Our current wholesale pricing for a one pound (16 oz.), shelf ready jar of varietal honey is $13. The shops that we supply retail our honey for $18 - $20 a jar and their customers anxiously await its return each season. Despite increasing our production incrementally each season, we can never produce enough honey to meet the customer demand.
If that weren’t good enough news, the National Honey Board Consumer Attitudes & Usage Study for 2021 reported significant upticks in honey usage over the past year. Data from the study cited multiple reasons as to why consumers selected honey as their most preferred sweetener. Some of the participants reasons for consuming honey included that it was ‘natural’, ‘good for the environment’, ‘organic’, ‘a source of antioxidants’, and ‘flavorful’. This growing demand for honey in the United States was further confirmed by data taken from the USDA Sugar and Sweeteners Outlook which reported that 571 million pounds of honey was consumed in 2020, a rise of about 8 percent from the previous year.