Blue Ridge Sourwood Honey

Sourwood is the honey Georgia is known for, and it is also the honey most often sold in name only. This one is the real thing — raw, unfiltered, sourwood honey

Tasting notes

Buttery and bright, with floral top notes, a hint of melon and a whisper of anise on the finish. Light amber in the jar, delicate, and exceptionally smooth. It is one of the most sought-after varietal honeys in the world, and it tastes like nothing else we produce.

Sourwood, not “somewood”

A great deal of what is sold as sourwood is what we call somewood — honey that contains some sourwood nectar but is mixed with enough of everything else that it really ought to be labelled wildflower. It is not dishonest so much as it is unavoidable at low elevation, where a hundred other things are blooming at the same time.

Ours comes from Terra Incognita, Georgia’s highest elevation winery, above Lake Rabun in the Blue Ridge Mountains. At that altitude the competing blooms simply are not there, so the bees have nowhere else to go. What comes back to the hive is pure, unmistakable sourwood.

A hard-won harvest

Sourwood blooms around the Fourth of July and only under fairly specific mountain conditions. We succeeded with this honey after six failed attempts. When it is gone for the season, it is genuinely gone.

Details

• Raw, unfiltered and true single-source sourwood
• Produced above Lake Rabun in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Georgia
• Georgia Grown
• 8 oz glass jar
• Very limited annual harvest

How to use it

Do not cook with this one. Sourwood is a honey to taste: on a spoon, on a biscuit, over fresh cheese or yoghurt, or alongside a cheese board where its lightness has room to show. It also makes an excellent gift for anyone who takes food seriously.

Not suitable for infants under 12 months, as with all raw honey.