Blackberry honey will be scarce this coming fall!

Extreme drought conditions in the Pacific Northwest last year left a parched look to the hillsides and some trees and grass. That giant sucking sound that was heard in the fall was discounted by the natives as just another rainy season beginning. Most of the flora rebounded quickly and rehydrated. However the blackberry vines and brambles suffered the most. Some of the established canes died completely. It is true that there will still be lots of blackberries along the lanes, pathways and most freeways in Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Northern California.

This year the blackberries may not recover to their pre-drought production. This may not be of concern to landowners that fight the spreading blackberry vines, but to the beekeeper this drought will have a serious effect on his honey crop. Blackberry honey is the most abundant gourmet honey worldwide. Blackberry honey is sought after and purchased by honey connoisseurs and great chefs in almost every nation on the planet. Ninety three percent of wild blackberry honey comes from the Pacific Northwest.

The strange bee anomaly of absconding has beekeepers asking for federal aid to ward off a catastrophe of poor honey harvest this year. For some strange reason half of the beehives did not survive the winter. Unless immediate measures are implemented to replace the hives that died, there will be a poor wild blackberry crop not to mention a devastating year for every crop that needs bees as a pollinator.Next time you see a field with beehives, thank your local beekeeper for a bountiful crop of all melons, fruits, most vegetables and nuts.

The good news is that we have our beehives ready and plan to harvest one of the most concentrated wild blackberry counties in Washington State. Our sources of fireweed honey and raspberry honey are in these same counties.

If you have never tasted wild blackberry honey… well this paper is not designed to portray taste very well… the flavor is unlike any honey you have tasted before, it has body, a full robust flavor that lingers in the mouth, a wonderful aroma…it is so good I recommend you try it! Wild blackberry Honey.

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Spring has an array of flowers and blooms that capture one’s eye from large, small and every color of the prism. The one bloom that always signals bright sun shiny days are here again in the Pacific Northwest is the delicate white blackberry bloom. These flowers will blanket the cane arbors along fencerows, ditches and steep hillsides.

Upon closer inspection these floral clusters of blackberry blossoms are alive with activity. There is a mild roar coming from the mountains of flowers. One of the finest annual culinary treats is about to begin. Bees are invading the blackberry patch with a vengeance and for good reason. The prolific nectar flow from the blackberry flowers is pure gold! The ancient instinct to build up winter stores causes the bees to work early and stay out late to harvest the abundant honey. Although Oregon has over 6100 acres of cultivated blackberries, this meager amount pales in comparison to the tens of thousands of wild acres of blackberries in California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska. The wild blackberry acreage in the Pacific Northwest easily is greater than the worldwide-cultivated acreage of 66,000 acres.The Gourmet Blackberry Honey is possible only because the wild blackberries are so perfuse, bloom at a time when little other flower nectar is available from different kinds of flowers and most importantly, the weather conditions are ideal for bumper crops of blackberry nectar in the Pacific Northwest.

Mid July starts a blackberry harvest in Lower California and continues to move north. Bremerton, Washington Blackberry Festival occurs in September around Labor Day. Blackberries, syrups, gourmet honey, recipes, cooking and blackberry events highlight this festival. The southern tip of Alaska is about 2-3 weeks behind Washington with its blackberry harvest bounty.

Although this cycle starts with a beautiful bloom, honey bees and a warm spring day to make the sought after blackberry gourmet honey, the day does arrive in the warmer summer days of the blackberry harvest. These wild blackberries can be as big as your thumb to the first knuckle, and a black/purple in color. The blackberry should be all black with no or few red drupelets. The wild blackberries have monstrous thorns! This could be the reason few of these wild berries are harvested for produce. However, the blackberry thorns do not slow the bees. This region has a very important role in producing the majority of the world’s succulent blackberries, raspberries and blueberries.

Blackberry Gourmet Honey is a rare treat eaten by few and known by fewer. Seek out this bold flavor. When this honey is used to baste barbeque meats the results are heavenly. A hot biscuit, butter and blackberry honey, bagels and blackberry honey or just blackberry honey and fine music are exemplary ways to curl up with satisfaction.

Do not hesitate to include this diamond of a taste in your pantry.

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Blackberry honey can be harvested in many states. However the mother load of blackberry honey comes from the Pacific Northwest where blackberries grow wild to a point of nuisance. Old farmsteads have been known to “just disappear” under the growth of blackberries.

Rubus laciniatus, the evergreen blackberry, is considered an invasive species but for the beeman of the Pacific Northwest this vine produces one of the finest gourmet honeys of the world. Blackberry honey has a robust flavor with a hint of fruit taste but like most honeys it does not taste like the fruit that it was gathered from.

Blackberry honey is very flavor specific and has a specific unique flavor that cannot be confused with any other honey. This flavor will depend on the geographic location the honey is made in and can vary in color and taste due to the climatic and weather conditions from year to year. Once you have tasted blackberry honey, nothing will take its place. You will ask specifically for the premier nectar of blackberry honey!

Most supermarket honey is bottled from a cooperative and is a combination of many different honeys, with half of the blend imported from China and South America. The floral essences are cooked away with high heat and the natural enzymes are killed. Although by law “100% honey” one gets the idea that all honey tastes the same. That thought could not be further from the truth, just as all wine does not taste the same, all vegetables do not taste the same, neither do all honeys taste the same!

Experience the wonders of gourmet honeys, sample three different honeys and you will agree, the finest are bottled separately.

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