THREE-LEGGED DOG HONEY

HANSVILLE'S FINEST, FRESH FROM THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST TO YOU!

GRADING HONEYS
The primary means of grading honey is by its color.  Though there are exceptions, the darker the honey the stronger and fuller taste.  Most of the finest premium grade raw honeys are very light in color, nearly clear, and delicately flavored.  Some, especially when they are beginning to crystallize, are almost white.

CRYSTALLIZATION
Most honeys will crystallize eventually.  It in no way effects their flavor or quality.  In fact, I always prefer to spread crystallized honey on my biscuits when I can.  Tupelo (Nyssa spp.) honey from Georgia and Florida is an interesting and delicious exception.   In the last line of the film Ulee's Gold you'll hear the beekeeper explain this fact to his friend.  If you prefer your honey smooth, however, don't fret.   You can put the jar in your microwave at medium heat setting for a minute or two.   Or you can set it in a pan of hot water.  Don't make it too hot though.   Try to keep it under 120 degrees, and don't leave the jar in any longer than you have to.

RAW, UNCOOKED HONEY
We don't cook our honey since it's not necessary, and because some of the flavor and other uniqueness of our local honey would be lost.  Large commercial honey producers cook their honey in order to give it a longer shelf life for the food chains who distribute it for them.   This makes very satisfactory honey, but the cooking strips it of much of its uniqueness.   And apparently that's the idea.  We sometimes use this honey for cooking, but we don't put it on our table.  A big part of the pleasure for us is enjoying the difference in fine honeys, just as we enjoy any fine wines, cheeses, and beers and ales that are unique to a particular region or country.  

WILD BLACKBERRY (high crystallization)
The most prevalent premium grade honey from the Pacific Northwest comes from wild blackberries.  Honey bees gather most of this nectar from our native blackberry (Rubus ursinus C&S.), but both Evergreen (Rubus laciniatus Willd.) and Himalaya (Rubus procerus P.J.Muell.) blackberries are also available.  All have high sugar content and produce flowers abundantly and are heavily worked by all bees including bumble bees.  Our blackberry honey is of the finest fancy grade quality and is in fact very nearly white.  

LAVENDER (medium crystallization)
This year we are producing lavender honey for the first time.  Drawn from the blossoms of a wide variety of lavender plants at a friend's nearby farm, the nectar produces a characteristically yellow honey of outstanding flavor and delicacy.  This honey is highly prized in southern France, and is very rare in this country.  So, as you can imagine we have a very limited supply of it.

FIREWEED (high crystallization)
Fireweed (Epilobium angustifolium L.) produces a wonderful, spicy-flavored, pale yellow honey and is a favorite with our bees. Many folks love it's tangy taste and consider it the best of our regional honeys.  This unpredictable nectar source can grow profusely where timber has been recently cut, and is usually taken in late summer from the foothills around Puget Sound.  Fireweed seems to like Hansville's cool, late summer weather, however, and as a result our second honey crop contains considerable amounts of the unique, tangy, delicate Fireweed honey taste.    

THISTLE (medium crystallization)
Canadian Thistle (Cirsium arvense (L.) Scop.) is very abundant in Hansville in late summer, and considerably influences the flavor of our second crop of lovely, mild, nearly white fancy grade honey.

HEDGE-NETTLE (medium crystallization)
Hedge-nettle (Stachys spp.) seems to like the same conditions as Thistle, and you'll often see them growing side by side.   In Hansville's late summer you'll readily see how popular both blossoms are with the bees.   When they blend this nectar in the hive with that of the Thistle, the result is a white-yellow honey that has a delightful taste unlike any other.   

THREE-LEGGED DOG HONEY APIARY (WSDA#4013)
Our apiary is located in Hansville, Washington, at the tip of the Kitsap peninsula on the shores of the Puget Sound.  The climate here is unique, and the honey flows run about a month later than elsewhere in the county.  The cool summers have a considerable ameliorating effect on the local flora and fauna.  One result of this is that we get two separate honey harvests each year between mid-July and late-August, and our bees gather a blend of nectars that is clearly different with each of the two crops.  In the first crop blackberry predominates as it does in much of western Washington.  In the second crop, although the blackberry is still present, the subtle and delicious tastes of fireweed, thistle, and hedge-nettle become distinct.  The result is a very rare, almost white, premium fancy grade honey of the very highest quality of which we are very proud.

By the way, our apiary name comes from our three-legged dog Honey, whose picture appears on the label.  And, just for the record, she already had that name when we first got her from our neighbors long before we even started thinking about becoming beekeepers.  Pretty amazing, huh?

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