Apple Blossom honey?

I came across an apiary selling apple blossom honey. I'm new to meads (yet to make my first batch actually - unless you count my "cyser" currently fermenting) and was curious about this honey. Anyone have any experience with it? Would be it be a good honey to use in a traditional mead?

I've never seen it advertised and, now that you mention it, I can't imagine why. I would guess it's expensive but I'd also guess it would be a good varietal honey and a good candidate for a traditional mead.

I'm pretty sure if it's not to pricey for you, that it would be a great choice for a mead.

People keep hives in orchards around here for pollination. Although it's almost never pure apple blossom honey, I'm sure that a lot of it's character comes from apples since they are the number one crop. Some people will move their hives around, and so they'll get nectar from lots of different wildflowers and stuff or different types of fruit blossoms like cherries, pears apricots, peaches and nectarines.

The honey that's made this way usually winds up a golden colour, with a fine aroma, but not heavy the way something like buckwheat honey is. I've made lots of mead from it. I'd be curious as to how a pure apple or pear blossom honey would taste and look. Perhaps I've even tried some before, it's just so hard to tell because there are so many people with bees and trees in the region (a pretty ideal situation for a brewer!)

The reason you don't see much apple (or cherry, peach or plum) blossom honey is that fruit trees bloom at the time of year when the bees are using everything they collect to rear brood. The folks who produce apple blossom are able to do it because they are migrators, and their bees have been trucked to sources of nectar that got the brood cycle fed on earlier blooms. There generally isn't much fruit blossom honey to be found, but it is some fine stuff.

We have an orchard outlet in front of our church which sells apple and peach blossom honey during the late summer. The honey is nice and I have made made many gallons of mead from it. The taste is quite variable from year to year, typically golden to deep golden, it crystalizes fairly quickly.

I sent an email to the orchard about their apple blossom honey. They replied with

...technically it isn't apple blossom honey, as we only extract once per year and that is in early september, after many other flowers and herb nectars have been added to the mix. Due to the difficulty of keeping bees alive during the winter and [this year] the early flowering of the apple trees, we are loathe to take the honey away from the hives at that time. So I would have to amend the title of our honey to 'mixed fruit and flower honey.'

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Still sounds pretty good to me, especially since it is all locally produced, so I think I'm going to go ahead and try some. Given what KenSchramm said above, I imagine the honey is more wildflower than apple though.

Just thought of something - KenSchramm - are you the Ken Schramm?

JLem said:

Just thought of something - KenSchramm - are you the Ken Schramm?

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If you mean the one who wrote that book, well, yeah, I guess I am.

KenSchramm said:

If you mean the one who wrote that book, well, yeah, I guess I am.

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priceless. great response! I've really enjoyed your book - I've read it twice cover to cover, and reference it frequently wheneven I'm working on a batch.

I (and I'm sure many others) are glad that you are on this forum!

AZ_IPA said:

I (and I'm sure many others) are glad that you are on this forum!

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Definitely, your book is an amazing reference! Thank you for sharing your sage wisdom

I also have to say that the book is awesome, Ken. Glad to see you here.

Small world, I'm guessing you're referring to Warm Colors Apiary in South Deerfield? I live in Chicopee and found them through honeylocater.com. Heading out there this afternoon with my wife to get the honey for my first batch of mead! And Ken, your book is fantastic, and deservedly the best rated mead guide on Amazon. Cheers!

I own the Compleat Meadmaker as well, it's a great and regular read. Glad to see at this forum!