About this Honey
One of the very first crops of the spring, harvested from Pussy Willow and Weeping Willow trees. Because it is an early-season food for bees, surplus is rare. The honey is golden and has a distinctively bitter or tangy aftertaste when fresh, which mellows into a pleasant, herbaceous sweetness over time.
Honey Characteristics
Salix spp.
Early Spring
Specialty
Continental US
Freshly cut wood, sharp green vegetative notes, light grass
Fluid, thin-to-medium viscosity, smooth
Honey Profile Chart
Scale: 1 (Low) → 5 (High)
The Story
The early spring catkins of Salix species offer one of the earliest available carbohydrate sources for honey bee colonies emerging from winter dormancy. Because this early-season nectar is overwhelmingly consumed by the hive to stimulate brood rearing and rebuild colony population, securing a surplus for human extraction requires exceptional hive strength and highly favorable, unseasonably warm early spring weather windows.\n\nWhen fresh from the comb, Willow honey displays a distinctively sharp, tangy, or slightly bitter aftertaste driven by native salicin compounds extracted from the tree bark and sap. Over a few months in storage, these sharp organic compounds naturally break down and mellow, leaving a highly refreshing, herbaceous carbohydrate structure that performs exceptionally well as a raw tabletop sweetener for green teas and soft chèvre.
Sensory Profile
Tap a note to highlight it. These are the defining sensory characteristics of Willow Honey.
Where Willow Honey is Produced
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Culinary Applications
Best Pairings
Foods and drinks that bring out the best in Willow Honey.
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Apiaries with Willow honey
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At a Glance
A Specialty variety, harvested in Early Spring, from Continental US, derived from Salix spp. blossoms.