Lone Star Beekeeping: What Makes Texas Honey So Unique?

Texans use honey for a multitude of reasons. I, for one, like to go crazy and put a little bit into my morning cup of coffee as a natural sweetener. This begs the question, how is Texas honey different than other brands out there? Are Texas bees just built different? Well, it turns out that there is a very long reason... but I'll keep it short and sweet.

One-of-a-Kind Texas Honey

First off, honey will always taste slightly different depending on where you are in the world. For example, flowers produce different-tasting pollen in Arizona as compared to, say, Canada. This would lead to the variations in honey flavors that used such pollen in the making process.

According to Bees Wiki, Texas is so large that it is split into ten separate biomes that each produce their own unique honey. Flavor can also depend on the rainfall gained in a specific region of the state that either advances or delays flower growth in certain batches.

Bee Fact! Bees will travel up to six miles in search of pollen when blooming flowers are scarce.

Common honey that is produced from one flower source in Texas include the following:

• White Brush Honey
• Wildflower Honey
• Alfalfa Honey
• Blueberry Honey
• Cotton Honey

Texas beekeeping, which is typically a seasonal job around spring, consists of the subspecies called Carniolan honey bee. These are favored by keepers for a few reasons, like the fact that they can defend their own hives from invading insects and can produce up to 15% more honey than other subspecies.

Lastly, some plants to keep in mind that attract more bees than others include the shrub Abelia, the herb Anise Hyssop, and the plant Autumn Sage.