Heather when is it Thixotropic and when is it not.

[Greengage]

I have seen a number of posts on Heather honey, This year some of our members bemoan the fact that it is a bad year for cut comb and heather honey. While walking the local mountains last weekend I noticed a number of different heathers growing all in the same area, but predominantly Calluna vulgaris (Ling) but there was also Cross-leaved Heath (Erica tetralix) Bell heather (Erica cinerea). Not to mention billberrry, Bog Aspodil and myrtle.
It is said that heather honey was thixotropic true and false my reserach indicates that only Calluna vulgaris honey is thixotropic, This honey will usually retain more moisture than what you would normally expect to find in honey and maintain levels at about 25%With honey from other sources the moisture content is usually about 18%. The books say that moisture content above 18% usually indicates the honey was not completely cured before harvest and there is a risk of spoil by fermentation. The thixotropic nature of heather honey allows it to retain more moisture without the risk of spoil. Heather is usually wind pollinated or else there is a small thripe called Taeniothrips ericae which will also do the job now because rain does not pollinate the plant and your bees are not active these little chaps have all the nectar for themselves and once pollinated that is the end of the nectar. This year has been wet the bees were probably not flying so the tripes had a feast.
So when people say heather honey is Thixotropic they are only talking about Honey predominately collected from Ling (Calluna vulgaris) so how do beekeepers manage when bees are forageing on different plants on the mountainside, what honey do they collect and how do they package that.
Another note that you may find interesting, I was on a raised bog and my dog was scamping through the heather with clouds of pollen flying behind her, (No nectar to be got there then) when she took a fit of coughing, I told a friend about this and he said yes he noticed the same with his dog and discovered that the dog had an allergy to pollen from heather and caused her to itch and scratch a lot.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-8137.1953.tb05199.x/pdf

[Kate Atchley]

... It is said that heather honey was thixotropic true and false my reserach indicates that only Calluna vulgaris honey is thixotropic, This honey will usually retain more moisture

Yes, ling (Calluna) heather honey is thixotropic but not the dark honey from bell heather. I expect ripe ling heather honey to be bottled with about 22% water content which is 3-4% more than for other blossom honeys ... but less than the 25% you mention.

[Calluna4u]

Yes, ling (Calluna) heather honey is thixotropic but not the dark honey from bell heather. I expect ripe ling heather honey to be bottled with about 22% water content which is 3-4% more than for other blossom honeys ... but less than the 25% you mention.

More a reply to both than your post specifically.

In all our years in this business we have actually NEVER met this very high water content in properly ripened ling honey. 19.5 is the highest we have ever seen it from our own bees, maybe the higher readings have some geographical basis to them. This year we have a small crop but the combs brought home so far are giving readings between 17.9% and 18.6%. Seems counter intuitive for such a late and wet year, but the gel is also remarkable and the honey is very difficult to extract it is so stiff. Many combs are going into the crusher to recover the honey as the extracting is so patchy even with the best of gear. ( A pound of heather left in a deep comb is worth a lot of money, and to rewax only costs us about 40p including labour.)

Ling honey at the higher water contents has a shorter shelf life without slow fermentation starting up than blossom honeys does, and it was not uncommon for buckets and barrels in long term storage to start to dome as the activity in the honey got going. Initially it just softens then slowly starts to rise a bit like a dough does, albeit over months rather than hours. In the past when we used to pack honey we bought in the crop of numerous other beekeepers and their water contents varied but we did not take any in that was over 21% as it just was not stable, and even at 21% there could be issues in less than a year if not used by then. The early stage fermentation was easily fixed by simply melting it and reseeding. The legal limits for water content in honey at point of sale are actually too high, and at 23% for heather and 21% for blossom they do not lead to a long storage sound product.

I often used to be 'puzzled' at how some packers were able to operate very close to the limits on a totally consistent basis when the traded honey in bulk was not so wet..........

On the subject of the heather and heath species, Bell (E. cineria) is of course a non thixotropic honey and actually my favourite honey of all. It is stated to be a dark port wine colour and show bench standards seem to dictate this. However its colour is actually quite variable, and in dry seasons in Deeside we have seen it come in quite pale, even straw coloured, like the colour of whisky, and what the bees are bringing in from it can change colour (darken) after rain. It has been analysed to check for purity, and yes, these were all good bell samples. The classic colour, especially from the Angus glens where some of the best historic bell territory used to be, is indeed the dark rich port wine shade when a jar is held up to the light. Aberdeenshire honey is a bit more variable but still most seasons it will be fairly dark.

Cross leafed heath, E. tetralix, is widespread across some of our areas. I have never knowingly seen a flow of honey from this plant. I have heard it said by some that they have seen this, and by others that it is not a significant nectar plant. I tend to side with the latter viewpoint.

Ling heather needs no description here.

[Mellifera Crofter]

Another interesting post from C4U. Thanks!
Kitta

[alancooper]

Does anyone have experience of "heather" honey from hives located in afforested uplands where there is a lot of Calluna and Rose-bay willow-herb (their flowering period overlaps). For the first time, I have a hive in this type of landscape. Should I anticipate a honey that is not thixotropic?

[Calluna4u]

Does anyone have experience of "heather" honey from hives located in afforested uplands where there is a lot of Calluna and Rose-bay willow-herb (their flowering period overlaps). For the first time, I have a hive in this type of landscape. Should I anticipate a honey that is not thixotropic?

Calluna in flower is a far more attractive and heavy yielding plant than Epilobium (Willowherb). If the honeys are mixed it is probable you will not even really notice, and it should still be orange and gel like. If on the other hand it is light coloured and fluid your bees preferred other forage. Unless you have an acre or so of Epilobium....per hive....you should find the calluna dominant. It is unlikely they will abandon the epilobium completely. Bees on heather always go in search of alternative pollens (to balance their diet?) in particular tormentil, a little yellow flower found on moors, and a minority of bees are always bringing in something other than heather pollen.

I have a number of forest sites with heather in glades, as an understory, and out on the hill beyond the tree line. They are among the best places I have and make a total mockery of the oft repeated tale about needing to be young heather on well managed moors.

[Feckless Drone]

Does anyone have experience of "heather" honey from hives located in afforested uplands where there is a lot of Calluna and Rose-bay willow-herb (their flowering period overlaps). For the first time, I have a hive in this type of landscape. Should I anticipate a honey that is not thixotropic?

Yes, my main apiary is in exactly this situation, surrounded by lots of willowherb but within 1 mile of a decent amount of heather. The honey I get is a bit lighter in color than just heather honey but seems to contain a larger heather component than willowherb so remains thixotropic. There can be quite some variance between frames and between hives in terms of relative mixtures but I put it all together. I first realized that I had a mixture when using an extractor and noted that most of the crop was stuck in the frames and had that distinctive smell. So I now press it out. I notice at shows and for some honey being sold that quite a bit of what is classed as "heather honey" looks like there is something else there, well that's what it looks like to me.

[Greengage]

More a reply to both than your post specifically.

In all our years in this business we have actually NEVER met this very high water content in properly ripened ling honey. 19.5 is the highest we have ever seen it from our own bees, maybe the higher readings have some geographical basis to them. This year we have a small crop but the combs brought home so far are giving readings between 17.9% and 18.6%. Seems counter intuitive for such a late and wet year, but the gel is also remarkable and the honey is very difficult to extract it is so stiff.

I see this topic on the BBKA forum where one chap says" One thing to check is the water content. I have found it extremely high this year with some of my capped stuff only just coming in legal at 22.5% water content.
I have had to resort to drying the uncapped to get it down to around 20% water content. Never had such watery stuff....or so much of it"
http://www.bbka.org.uk/members/forum.php?t=7841. Maybe he is not from scotland and comes from further south I dont know my english geography well. Interesting post C4u tks lots to think about there. I also saw on that same post i think where there was a suggestion that people were using bicycle pumps to put air into the honey for show.