Goldenrod Honey

We have a vacant field across from our home that used to be planted in rice and most recently in soybeans, although the field has been left fallow for the past several years.  That is just fine with us. Dewberries grow up wild on the outside levee and me and Benjamin and Tricia are able to go right across the road and pick buckets full of the plump, sweet berries and we turn them into jelly or freeze them whole to make wonderful goat milk and dewberry smoothies for breakfast.  Or pies...  Or cobbler with homemade ice cream on top!

In the summer, beginning in July, the same field that provided gallons and gallons of dewberries also provides something else.  Goldenrod.  Goldenrod is often blamed for giving people allergic reactions. Actually goldenrod season coincides with ragweed season and gets the blame for a lot of what ragweed causes.  Here is a picture of our goldenrod field just north of our mailbox.  A rich golden color glows and if you look closely...

Our Goldenrod Field

You'll see that not only is the field glowing, but it is buzzing.  Bees are flying all throughout the goldenrod field going absolutely crazy with the pollen.  In fact you can scarcely find a stalk of goldenrod without a honeybee or two on it enjoying the intoxicating goldenrod nectar.

Image Credit

The reason I bring this up is something odd happened the other day.  We were having our home re-roofed.  It's a painful subject to be sure.  If you've read our blog before, you know that we have a colony of bees that live in a hollow column that supports the roof over our side door.  They access their hive through a small gap between the top of the fiberglass column and the roof.  If you stand by the column at night, you can hear and feel the vibration of thousands of bees.  It is kind of scary.

Our bees have never stung us, but sometimes they're very active and on those days, our guests don't enter our house through the side door, but through the garage. When the roofers were working on our roof, the bees were very active.  So much so that they put off roofing the side of the roof near the bees because they were afraid of getting stung.  Actually, one of the roofers did get stung when they started removing the existing roof.  I guess the bees didn't go for all the hammers banging and they were going to wait until winter to finish up on the roof.  But Tricia told them that it would be best to begin roofing that side very early in the morning when it is still cool and the bees aren't as active. That's exactly what they did and they got it done without running from a swarm of angry bees.

Entrance to the bee hive

So, what in the world does this have to do with goldenrod honey?  Well, one of the roofers told us that something smelled like spoiled milk near the column of bees. Odd.  We got close to the column and sure enough - it smelled like cheese or something going bad.  What could it be?  I asked my beekeeper friend and he smiled and told me that it was goldenrod honey.  He said his wife absolutely hates it because of the smell, but that he loves it!  Here's an excerpt from This Article regarding Goldenrod Honey:

Nectar sourced from Goldenrod produces a distinct honey. Fellow beekeepers warned to not be alarmed when Goldenrod is in bloom. Even when opening the hive and before harvesting honey, the smell is markedly different. Without this advance notice, I would have been concerned something was wrong. Some written descriptions categorize this as a spicy smell. Others suggest a faint licorice aroma. The leaves of Goldenrod (actually a member of the herb family) do smell a bit like licorice when crushed so perhaps that is a nice way to characterize it. Honestly my best descriptor for the smell of Goldenrod honey is "cheesy".
Goldenrod-based honey is a rich amber color, much darker than honey harvested after the bees have foraged on spring flowers such as clover. It is almost as dark as maple syrup. There is a slightly spicy taste and, thankfully, nothing cheesy. The honey is truly delicious.

A Column-full of Bees AND Goldenrod Honey

I'd like to try some goldenrod honey.  Although the honey smells, it is said to be delicious.  (I've never known honey that wasn't!)  There's only one problem.  I don't know of an easy way to rob the honey out of our column.  I guess the only way I'll get to sample the distinct taste of goldenrod honey is to purchase a jar from my buddy.