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

Which kind of honey tastes best?

So what type of honey has the best taste? Thompson reflects on a study conducted at North Carolina State University. “I recall hearing that some number of years ago entomology students at North Carolina State University conducted a blind taste test on campus using honey varietals from across North Carolina, and tulip poplar honey was the preferred honey by those who participated in the study.”

Thompson adds that most people favor the variety of honey that was available in their homes as children. He adds, “They have fond memories of family trips to the mountains each summer where they purchased sourwood honey from a roadside stand and they just have to have sourwood honey.”

When Norton refers to sourwood honey, he says, “That’s the honey that makes a hot slice of yellow cornbread with a little butter truly unforgettable.”

Norton also explains that North Carolina honey will vary in color and taste from year to year because of the weather. “Our spring wildflower is very fruity and light this year as the tulip poplar froze in the bud due to a series of late frosts and from cloudy rainy cool days during the bloom.”

When Norton takes his honey to festivals, he offers samples of his fall wildflower, spring wildflower, and sourwood honeys. Most people prefer sourwood honey, but they agree that all of the honey is good honey.

Thompson concludes, “Every honey varietal has a different color and taste and it really is a personal preference as to which is the best.”

Of course, the best part of honey is eating it. Patterson enjoys baked sweet potatoes drizzled with honey and loves apples cooked with honey. The best, he claims, is pecan pie made with honey. Honey will work instead of sugar in any recipe. “The basic rule of thumb is 3/4 cups of honey for every cup of sugar,” says Patterson.

The next time you are at a county fair, festival or farmers market stop by a beekeeper’s tent and pick up a jar of a delicious honey. Think of the possibilities: honey cookies, chocolate milk and honey, honey barbeque sauce, cornbread smothered with honey, honey cupcakes, honey muffins, honey-covered pancakes or waffles, honey icing, and honey banana-nut bread.