The only way to keep the monfloral honey pure, or as pure as possible, is by beekeeper intervention. They must carefully place fresh hives near to the “target plant” just as it begins to produce its nectar. The beekeepers must then remove the hives and extract all the honey before the next plants come into blossom.
My Notes:
Monofloral honeys, or single flower honeys, are different to multifloral or wildflower honeys. These are honeys that derive from the nectar collected from a single species of plant. In practice this is easier said than done. After all, beekeepers cannot herd bees or train them to only visit a certain type of plant.
How it Works
Monofloral honeys come about from the result of two conditions. The first of these conditions is that the target plant must predominate. When this condition is set, the bees have little choice of plants. The second condition is in the hands of the beekeeper. They introduce the hive and the harvesting of the comb to coincide with the blooming period. This can only be done by carefully observing the blooming period of the chosen plant. It's also important to monitor any overlapping blooming periods of other nectar-producing plants nearby.
When conditions are met, the results can be wonderful. In many ways, good honey is like fine wine. It has hundreds, perhaps even thousands of different varieties, all offering something quite unique.
The Premium Product
The connoisseurs of honey consider monofloral varieties as premium products. This is due to their distinct taste, fragrance and unique flavors. The taste spectrum of monofloral honeys is vast. It can range from an almost bitter taste to something really sweet. The texture varies too, anything from clear and runny to thick and creamy.
Here are just a few of the single flower honeys available:
- (False) Acacia (light yellow to almost colorless).
- Alfalfa (white)
- Apple blossom (light gold)
- Aster (light yellow)
- Avocado (dark amber)
- Basswood/Lime (linden) blossom (Tilia) (water-white or pale)
- Blueberry (light amber or amber)
- Blue gum (amber)
- Buckwheat (dark amber)
- Carrot honey (dark amber)
- Chestnut (yellowish-brown)
- Clover (white to tones of amber)
- Eucalyptus (light amber to medium-dark red)
- Lavender (light yellow)
- Manuka (dark cream to tan or dark brown)
- Sunflower (pale yellow)
You can read a scientific abstract on the classification of monofloral honeys based on their quality control data. Food Chemistry, Volume 86, Issue 2, June 2004, Pages 305-312
J. Devillers, M. Morlot, M.H. Pham-Delègue, J.C. Doré View Abstract
In this research, 469 honey samples were included in the classification.
You might also want to view: Mineral analysis of mono-floral New Zealand honey
Leo P. Vanhanen, Andrea Emmertz, Geoffrey P. Savage
In this analysis, scientists checked the levels of 18 different minerals in ten locally produced New Zealand mono-floral honeys.