Bell heather soft setting/Cloudy

[biglongdarren]

Hey all, Is it in bell heathers nature to cloud up/ turn to a soft set likeness?

This honey is nothing but bell heather with maybe a slight touch of ling, turns not long after spinning out.

Is this its nature? thanks Darren

 

[ericbeaumont]

Only had one or two buckets of bell turn like that, Darren. It was quite quick and so very smooth. Perhaps there was hedge mustard about at the same time?

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

When I lived in Scotland, I would buy heather honey all the time. It was cloudy and slightly runny - like unset soft-set. It smelt and tasted of heather honey, undoubtedly, but it didn't look like the clear bubbly heather honey I buy now in England. I have no idea why the two are different - in appearance anyway.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Definitely a natural blended heather Darren, any pure heather I have it is clear and so many bubbles plus you can turn the jar upside down with out it even moving, I’m obviously talking about ling heather, possibly forage at the same time would be hb, willow herb as Eric said yellow and white hedge mustard which I see growing near the edge of brooks/rivers and is flowering the same time as hb

 

[biglongdarren]

Where the bees are sited there is only bell, ling and the very odd contonaster bush scattered over the hills and it's always in berry no flowers when my bees are there. It turns a lovely tan colour with no granules in it that I can feel in the mouth.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

When I lived in Scotland, I would buy heather honey all the time. It was cloudy and slightly runny - like unset soft-set. It smelt and tasted of heather honey, undoubtedly, but it didn't look like the clear bubbly heather honey I buy now in England. I have no idea why the two are different - in appearance anyway.

the stuff you bought in Scotland wasn't 'pure' heather, the bees were obviously foraging something else with the heather. it sometimes leads to a creamy soft almost set honey which goes down really well with many.

 

[ericbeaumont]

foraging something else

Ragwort?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

not around here, but to be honest, I've never given it much thought, I know it's doubtful it's HB as my bees totally ignore acres of balsam a few hundred yards away and head straight for the heather nearly two miles up the mountain.

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

the stuff you bought in Scotland wasn't 'pure' heather, the bees were obviously foraging something else with the heather. it sometimes leads to a creamy soft almost set honey which goes down really well with many.

That makes sense. I'm one of the many; it was the only honey I bought. It was from Heather Hills Honey Farm in Blairgowrie and was always in the supermarket for a fiver - till I emigrated in 2017. I see it costs a bit more now.
Edit: they do state that the honey contains both bell and ling.

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

head straight for the heather nearly two miles up the mountain.

That is amazing. Also, to be so in touch with the bees' foraging activity.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

was there any bramble nearby? just found some test results from a load of heather honey I sold a few years ago and it was high in bramble

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

was there any bramble nearby?

No doubt. Isn't bramble the country's largest forage source now in these post clover days?

 

[biglongdarren]

was there any bramble nearby? just found some test results from a load of heather honey I sold a few years ago and it was high in bramble

No bramble for well over two miles , these hives are right bang in the middle of the Mourne mountains with nothing else around them but bell and ling heather.