Text and photos by Robin Sellers

• Introduction
• How to tell one kind from another
• Which kind of honey tastes best?
• Honey facts
• Recipe for honey cranberry nut cookies
• Where to buy honey
• Download the full article as a

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Thanks to North Carolina beekeepers, finding local honey is now an easier process. Honey is available at any grocery store.

But the commercial honey on the grocer’s shelf is not the same as local honey, also called beekeeper’s honey, raw honey, or pure honey. James Patterson, of Pat’s Bees in Halifax County, says the difference between local honey and commercial honey is like the difference between homogenized milk and milk straight from the cow. Local honey is honey that is pure and unprocessed.

“Some of the honey sold in North Carolina is not all honey,” says Chuck Norton of Norton’s Nut & Honey Farm in Rockingham County. “Some stores buy honey from China or Argentina and sell it as wildflower or sourwood honey, and sourwood honey is not produced outside the southeastern United States.” So when you buy honey, read the label. You might be surprised to see the words China or Argentina in fine print.

Norton says there are around 1,300 beekeepers in North Carolina. You can find local beekeepers at county fairs, festivals, farmers markets and roadside stands, or through beekeepers associations such as the North Carolina State Beekeepers Association.