Blueberry blossom honey is made from the nectar of blueberry blossoms gathered by honeybees. Its taste, aroma, flavor, and color will vary from season to season, depending on how plentiful the blossoms are when the nectar is collected.
Mohawk Valley Trading Company’s raw blueberry blossom honey is as it exists in the beehive: extracted from the honeycomb, strained, and packed into glass jars.
This retains natural enzymes, yeast, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, antioxidants, bee pollen, aromatics, and propolis.
From the beginning of May through June, some of our hives are trucked to Maine to pollinate wild blueberries, which are among the few fruit-bearing plants native to North America. Maine is the continent’s largest blueberry producer.
The biggest difference between lowbush (wild) and highbush (cultivated) blueberries is harvesting frequency. Highbush blueberries are harvested once a year, while lowbush blueberries are harvested once every other year.
Another difference is plant size. Highbush blueberries can grow to more than six feet tall, while lowbush blueberries reach a height of two feet or less.
Lowbush blueberry blossoms have small, white or pink, bell-shaped flowers. During the growing season, lowbush blueberries form flower buds by the end of the year. The next season, these buds bloom and produce blueberries. Lowbush blueberries are harvested about 2 months after the flowers bloom in the spring.
The berries from a lowbush blueberry plant are smaller than those of a highbush.
Wild blueberries are also richer in antioxidants. A one-cup serving of wild blueberries has more total antioxidant capacity than a serving of cranberries, strawberries, plums, raspberries, and cultivated blueberries. Highbush blueberries are not part of Maine’s commercial blueberry industry.
No pesticides or herbicides are used in the areas where we set up our bee yards, and although it isn’t labeled or certified organic, our raw blueberry blossom honey is as organic as any produced in the USA.