South Carolina Beekeepers Association

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IN THE NEWS

 Special Announcement from the Dept. of Entomology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, North Carolina State University:

    A light-colored, bitter-tasting honey is being made by honey bees, especially in the mountainous regions of western North Carolina and South Carolina, which should not be eaten. It has been speculated that the nectar source of this honey could be mountain laurel, even though bees do not typically forage from that nectar source.

    The issue with mountain laurel honey is that it may contain certain toxins. Mountain laurel and yellow jessamine are two North Carolina flowers that can produce toxic nectar.  Although, it is doubtful that the honey contains enough pure mountain laurel nectar, or that people would consume a large enough quantity of the bad-tasting honey to become sufficiently poisoned, nonetheless, precautions should be taken in case your bees might be making  honey from this source.

    Current recommendations are:

· If the honey tastes bitter, don't eat it or sell it.

· Verify that honey is bitter tasting, as not everyone may be able to taste laurel-tainted honey

· If you keep bees, extract any bitter-tasting honey from the combs before the bees store any additional honey, particularly before the sourwood nectar flow, which has already begun in some areas.

· Save the extracted honey, and give it back to the bees for winter feed.

Text Box:     A sample of this honey was recently sent to a leading expert of pollen identification in honey, and it was confirmed that the overwhelming majority of the pollen found in the honey sample was laurel, with smaller amounts of other nectars.     It has been difficult for bees to find adequate forage this year,  because of the Easter freeze and ongoing drought, and because of that, it seems that some bees may be making mountain laurel honey.        If you have any questions or concerns, please contact: Jack Hanel (828-230-4544), Don Hopkins (919-233-8214), or David Tarpy (919-515-1660).



 “Honey bees are our most beneficial insect and are responsible for pollinating approximately one third of our food in the United States,” said Hood. “Some South Carolina fruits and vegetables that require honey bee pollination include 
apples, watermelon, cantaloupe, squash, cucumber, and many others. They are also important pollinators for many wildlife food plants.” 
 
There are an estimated 2,000 beekeepers in the state who manage about 25,000 honey bee colonies. 
 

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