Local New Forest Ling Heather Honey now available to buy.

After keeping bees for 5+ years, I'm really pleased to have harvested my first crop of truly mono floral honey and it's a beauty.

The bees are fortunate to be within flying distance of several areas of the beautiful New Forest and they can easily reach Rockford Common, Highwood, Linford and Shobley where the beautiful ling heather plant (calluna vulgaris) grows. 

From late July to September the New Forest is turned purple by these small heathland flowers and it's quite a site to be seen.

A honey bee , potentially one of mine, feeding of the nectar of the New Forest ling heather. 

The late summer flowers provide a real bonanza for the bees when pretty well all other nectar sources have dried up.

The bees were busy and fast working foraging on the heather. In just a few short weeks, whilst the late summer sun was at its best, they produced approx 45 llbs of the gorgeous heather honey.

The wax on the frames is much lighter than other types of honey.

The heather honey capped in the frames

White wax cappings on the New Forest Heather Honey

New Forest Heather honey like all ling heather honeys is thixotropic. According to wikipedia this means the honey has " ..a time-dependent shear thinning property. Certain gels or fluids that are thick or viscous under static conditions will flow (become thin, less viscous) over time when shaken, agitated, sheared..." . Personally I just call it gel like. 

Because of it's gel like nature it's difficult to extract with a regular honey extractor and so the honey was extracted using a heather press.

New Forest Heather Honey extraction using a Heather Honey Press 

The gel like nature of the honey means it's much thicker and small air bubbles are trapped inside 

The heather honey has a lovely warm golden colour and the tase is reminiscent of the late summer evenings in the New Forest - perfect. New Forest Heather Honey is available to buy in 227 g jars. Click here to buy.