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South Carolina Honey?

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ibwahooka

NewBee
Registered Member
Sep 7, 2008
158
0
0
Augusta, GA
Hey everyone,
Anyone have an idea as to the type of honey that is typically available in SC? I purchased some from the local homebrew store and used it in a 1 gal. batch of Joe's Ancient Orange. It is some strong smelling honey. Any ideas??

-Shawn
 
One of the coolest things i've found when i've been doing research


http://www.honeylocator.com/search.asp

While it certainly doesn't have every honey producer(our local Cox honey co. isn't listed) it does have a lot. Very useful for finding honey you couldn't otherwise get locally. You'll probably want to stick to east coast producers and distributors and whatnot as the further you go, the higher shipping gets. E.g. i'd found someplace in florida with good base prices, but the shipping on a gallon was over $20 to utah.

I'm hot sure how they price shipping, but from what I'VE found for me, American Honey Direct, and Crockett Honey had great prices and the lowest shipping costs i've found. Check em out, American Honey Direct looked like the shipping may have been flat rate, so you could take advantage of that.
 
ibwahooka said:
Hey everyone,
Anyone have an idea as to the type of honey that is typically available in SC? I purchased some from the local homebrew store and used it in a 1 gal. batch of Joe's Ancient Orange. It is some strong smelling honey. Any ideas??

-Shawn
Click to expand...

I bet it’s not sour wood.... Sourwood is very light, mild flavor...not so sweet, with a floral flavor.

Last time I was down there I picked up an 8oz bottle of honey from a roadside stand. It was from a local apiary that was within town...in Cherokee County. Dark, fruity, sweet, with a real "grapy" taste. I suspect it had a lot of Kudzu in it. If your honey is local, it may be or have in it kudzu.
 
afdoty said:
I bet it’s not sour wood.... Sourwood is very light, mild flavor...not so sweet, with a floral flavor.

Last time I was down there I picked up an 8oz bottle of honey from a roadside stand. It was from a local apiary that was within town...in Cherokee County. Dark, fruity, sweet, with a real "grapy" taste. I suspect it had a lot of Kudzu in it. If your honey is local, it may be or have in it kudzu.
Click to expand...

It was a very dark color of honey. I didn't get a chance to taste it before I put it in my mead, I know stupid me, but the scent of the honey was absolutely overpowering. Kudzu huh? I will have to investigate more with the locals.
 
ibwahooka said:
It was a very dark color of honey. I didn't get a chance to taste it before I put it in my mead, I know stupid me, but the scent of the honey was absolutely overpowering. Kudzu huh? I will have to investigate more with the locals.
Click to expand...

As big a pain as kudzu is, it does make for a great honey. There is a use for that stuff!
 
ibwahooka said:
If you don't mind me asking why is kudzu such a pain?
Click to expand...

Kudzu is an extremely evasive plant that was introduced in the south during the 20's..... (Around there)... from Japan. It was originally ment to help with soil erosion. The temps down south don't go low enough to keep it check, so the growth is just incredible. Kudzu will cover everything, given enough time...house, trees, telephone poles.

The one upside is the flower. It smells very similar to concord grapes.
 
Kudzu is an unstoppable vine that is spreading over the South like a green Tsunami. It was originally imported from Asia. They found in was useful as a means of controlling soil erosion and planted it all over Georgia, but it can grow so fast that you can almost watch it move. It will grow over trees, telephone poles, houses, and anything else in its path.

It can be used as fodder for cattle however, and that is another aspect that can be positive. It also improves the soil it grows on.

Unfortunately it is darned near impossible to clear. Luckily, it doesn't like cold and will probably stay in the South.

I only recently learned about the honey, and I haven't yet tried it.


Edit: Sorry Al, I didn't mean to sound so repetitive.
 
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Unfortunately, it isn't just a plague in the deep south any longer:
http://www.purdue.edu/UNS/html3month/2005/050425.Nice.kudzu.html

Apparently some plants are adapting, becoming cold-tolerant and deciduous. They go dormant in winter, but pick right back up again when the weather warms. Hopefully that cold dormancy will check the otherwise unstoppable growth habit that it has.

BTW - As this Purdue University article notes, kudzu is a legume - closely related to peas, in fact.
 
And . . . they have used kudzu derivatives to help curb alcoholic tendencies in mice!
 
The latest development - a guy in Tennessee is harvesting kudzu for use in a bio-fuel venture; it can be readily fermented and distilled into ethanol, since the plant is so sugar rich. His product is called kudzohol, and it will be used in lieu of corn-based ethanol in gasoline blends.
 
It wasn't purple, but it did have a very dark, rich color to it. I have to go the LHBS this weekend or next to get some beer ingredients, so I will ask the owners then. Either way the smell coming from my carboy right now is absolutely divine.
 
It is extremely invasive, aggressive, and only responds to herbicides that also kill off everything else growing in the area. This picture shows it better than I can describe it:
http://neatorama.cachefly.net/images...ered-house.jpg

(Yes, that really is a house under that green blanket.)
Click to expand...


Wow!!! beekeepers heaven, enviromental nightmare.
I thought the "wild" blackberries where bad in the northwest. That "thing" makes our berries look like cute puppies...

That's it I'm moving, south here I come, bees are on the truck ready to roll.;)
 
andrewschwab said:
Wow!!! beekeepers heaven, enviromental nightmare.
I thought the "wild" blackberries where bad in the northwest. That "thing" makes our berries look like cute puppies...

That's it I'm moving, south here I come, bees are on the truck ready to roll.;)
Click to expand...

Kuzu is only part of the problem......There's fire ants now, too!!!
 
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