A Sweet Mystery: Purple Honey in NC
By Karl Galloway
Did you know that the honey bee is North Carolina’s state insect? Arriving as early as 1622 to North America, it quickly spread, adapting to the rich flora of what was to become the United States. Honey bees have a great impact on their environment, and their presence has been formative to the agriculture and economy of our state, but there is a lot we don’t know about our buzzing brethren. One mystery, long discussed in North Carolina and the southeast, has a particularly alluring hue.
Purple honey. That’s right, sweet, shimmering, and unmistakably purple. Largely found in hives near and around the North Carolina coastal plain, it looks more like a brew from a science fiction flick than the familiar condiment from your neighbor’s backyard apiary.
The jury is split on why some honey bees produce such an iridescent confection. Longtime beekeepers might swear that it‘s due to a hive munching on fruit like blueberries or huckleberries. Academics, like Professor John Ambrose of NC state, have different opinions and refute this claim, saying that bees do not have strong enough teeth to pierce the fruit. According to Ambrose, the answer may lie in in the hive itself. Based on tests performed by Ambrose and his team it may be aluminum reacting with the acid in the bees’ stomachs that causes a blue tinge. The flowers in the coastal plain of NC have more aluminum in the nectar, possibly accounting for the region’s production of purple honey. Another culprit could be the sourwood plant which, when soaked overnight in the digestive liquids of the bees, produced a purple hue.
While these tests prove fairly conclusive, folk knowledge gives them a run for their money. Many beekeepers insist it’s kudzu flowers that produce the color, others hew to the southern leatherwood as the culprit. The honey itself is considered sweeter than its amber cousin, sometimes with a slight fruit quality.
Keep your eyes open for roadside vendors and try it yourself!
