Sourcing honey...

[theknub]

Hey guys, where do you source your honey? Any recommendations? My LHBS is great, but the price of honey is ridiculous. I could try getting Sue Bee from Sam's, but I'm curious what everyone is getting / what they're using.

 

[alaktheman]

I use ebeehoney but I understand the shipping is not ideal.

 

[Jim_Holmes]

bought mine from walmart

 

[imasickboy]

https://www.dutchgoldhoney.com/

 

[TheZymurgist]

I get five pound jugs from Costco. It makes great mead, and is pretty cheap.

 

[giraffeman]

I found a local beekeeper selling honey at a farm market, (street sale), last summer. I let them know I was looking for quantity and they cut me a deal on a 5gal pail (around 60lb)
I also know someone was selling raw Honey Last year on HBT. Search the for sale section, who knows it may be worth a PM to see if he still has any
Good luck

 

[Leithoa]

My LHBS also stocks a few varieties of honey (though at IMO reasonable prices), as does our local farmers/health food market.

If you are willing to post it, a state/Metro area might help get you some local specific responses.

 

[theknub]

I am in the the Raleigh, NC area. Farmers market here is great but often asking for more.

If a regular 5 pounder from Costco/Sam's works I can go that route... just want to make sure I'm making a quality product.

 

[sanguine]

I've used the big 5-pound containers from costco a number of times - it's not world class honey, but it's good enough to make a pretty tasty mead, and the price is hard to beat. If you want more quality and more choice in the type of honey, you're probably going to have to pay farmers market rates - although you might check for a natural foods co-op near you, they often sell bulk honey.

 

[ChrisVZ]

https://www.dutchgoldhoney.com/

I get mine here too. Haven't had a mead made with it finish yet, but the 60 lb pail of raw wild flower I got had a great aroma and tasted great.

 

[sweetcell]

If you want more quality and more choice in the type of honey, you're probably going to have to pay farmers market rates - although you might check for a natural foods co-op near you, they often sell bulk honey.

another option for cheap but high-quality natural honey is online. check out the "cheap honey" link in my signature.

 

[Beek]

Find a beekeeper. Not at a farmer's market though. They are pricier there. Find someone who sells most of their honey in drums but bottles a little bit. That's what we do and our prices are hard to beat.

 

[Quaker]

Search for a local beekeeping club and contact them. They'll be able to connect you with members interested in selling in bulk. To cut to the chase, tell them how much you want at what price you're willing to pay.

 

[DennisinIowa]

I have my own hives, not as profitable as making beer . Well a bigger sinkhole anyway. Here is a good article on honey.

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/11/tests-show-most-store-honey-isnt-honey/

Find a local and work out a price at the beginning of spring for bulk.
Most states have a sensitive crop directory that you can lookup producers.
D

 

[TeeJo]

X2 on find a beekeeping club.

You should have a State or Provincial Apiarist somewhere in your Agriculture Dept. of Government. They will have lists and contact info of Beekeepers and clubs.

Lots of folks getting involved that have too much to really handle easily, but not enough to justify the farmer's market. It also depends where you are as to what kind of honey is prevalent locally. If you are in the Prairies you will like as not end up with Canola/Rapeseed, other areas other primary sources.

For a while, I would typically have anywhere from a couple hundred to several hundred pounds of honey on hand. I only ever filled and sold one drum to the Honey Co-op, when I was too tied up with work to package and sell it all myself.

That was with a half dozen hives, near Moose Jaw Sk. a few years back.

TeeJo

 

[Chris_The_Rogue]

I get mine from a local organic food store. Price isn't bad and the variety is good.

 

[elcapitan10]

My local whole foods has a bulk section where you can pour out whatever amount of honey you want, they have a local honey and then a few different flavors of honey. Is this a good option or would a packaged bottle be better to know its clean? The price of the local honey per pound seems cheaper than any bottle I can buy of similar honey.

 

[alaktheman]

Does anyone know where I can buy bulk heather honey in the states for a decent price?

 

[threeway]

I found this 2 towns over from a friends house. Haven't got the scratch together for a 60lbs tub. but at 189$ that's nto bad. even at 220-240shipped:
http://mvabeepunchers.com/

 

[phoenixmead]

Highland honey bees. From boulder county, Colorado. (It also helps that I work for the owner).

 

[OHVolsfan23]

We get ours at the local Farmers Market. We actually get a better deal, by gallon, then Costco. And we get some variety. Tulip Poplar is our favorite

 

[PaddyMurphy]

Costco, Sam's Club, or BJ's are good if you want inexpensive honey – I prefer Costco, myself – but it is, in my opinion, best suited for sweeter meads or melomels.

Check the Internet for your local beekeepers association(s). Apiary or beekeeper supply companies might either sell honey on its own, or know beekeepers in the area who would be willing to sell it to you.

 

[WVMJ]

So you go find your local beekeepers club as has been mentioned a couple of times, sit in on one of their meeting, they are open to the public, figure out who is the president and have a chat with them for leads on local honey, this is the best way to get real local varietals and also some of the beekeepers will be migrating their hives around the country, this might be a good source of varietals like Sourwood or even Goldenrod as they bring back their colonies to home and harvest the honey from them. A little investment in time and person to person contact can open up a whole world you didnt know existed around you. Just because you dont see beehives dont think there arent any beekeepers around you. One of my beeks shares his rarer honeys with me and I got him into making meads, guy is great at beekeeping and teaching and might be a better meadmaker than I am already! WVMJ

 

[fsr_racer]

Sourwood or even Goldenrod

Have any recipes for the two you mentioned. I have the same ones, and a few others, from Mountain State Honey. Been looking for recipes that compliment the unique characteristics.

 

[WVMJ]

Dont really do recipe on a varietal, most like figure out what style of mead you want to make and go from there. I have not done a Goldenrod yet, ate some, smells bad when the bees are bringing it in but tastes very good. We also really like the Japanese Knotweed (sometimes called bamboo honey), that would be another good one to try. WVMJ

 

[alaktheman]

Goldenrod mead will be my next batch after my oaked orange blossom mead finishes up.