Funny honey taste

[rileyman]

Hi,
Just been given a jar of honey by a local beekeeper and when trying it, it tasted slightly 'chemically' - certainly not like other local honey I've tried.

Could it be that this is honey that was extracted after Varroa treatment - or does honey occasionally come out tasting funny?

Dont want to insult a local beek who has loads more experience than me!

Roger

 

[Millet]

I have never tasted it but Ivy honey apparently has an acquired taste could you not politely ask the local beek what forage was in the area during prior to extraction..

 

[Hivemaker.]

it tasted slightly 'chemically'

What is a slightly chemically taste, taste of what?

 

[Hebeegeebee]

The taste of honey will change due to the forage the bees are visiting of course. As Millet has mentioned, Ivy honey is initially strong - but can get less intense after time.
It has occurred in the past that thymol as a varroa treatment has gotten into honey.
If the honey has set spoon-bendingly hard, it could well be Ivy.

 

[rileyman]

Thanks for the replies ...
Difficult to describe taste - but it doesn't taste like 'normal ' honey.
It is though it has got a little tang to it added after extraction - my son said it is like out of date orange/lime zest!
The honey is hard - quite crystalline - but not spoon bendingly so!
I will have a chat with the beek when I see him in the new year.

Happy Christmas to all,
Roger

 

[Hivemaker.]

It is though it has got a little tang to it added after extraction - my son said it is like out of date orange/lime zest!

Perhaps that is exactly what it is and was intended to taste of, people add all sorts of things to honey.

 

[For want of a better word]

Perhaps that is exactly what it is and was intended to taste of, people add all sorts of things to honey.

Marmite and Germaline.... from one of the biggest landowners in Cornwall....and it is not HRH!!

Nadelik Lowen

 

[enrico]

Sometimes it just happens. I have had one crop that tasted like that. It left a metallic taste on your tongue and was really quite unpleasant. It was ok used in cooking but as raw honey it just wasn't pleasant. I had had honey from the same area for years with no problem but in the end I threw away quite a few jars. I kept not using them in preference to good honey so ...... I never did find out what caused it, it wasn't fermentation. The taste reminded me of eating off a spoon that had just been cleaned with silver cleaner!!!! Don't ask me why!
E

 

[Eyeman]

Hawthorn honey has an astringent odour/taste.

 

[masterBK]

Pollen analysis is required to settle this. Other acquired tastes include sweet chestnut, ragwort and privet (I had alot of chestnut honey this year and particularly like it but considered too strong a taste for some)

 

[madasafish]

It's due to the added bromide reguired for population control.