L.L. Lanier & Son Tupelo Honey

This distinctive buttery, floral honey is produced exclusively in the swamplands along the Apalachicola and Ochlockonee rivers in Florida. The trees bloom for just 2-3 weeks each year making this highly prized honey difficult to obtain in a pure form.

Deep in the swamps of Florida, amids the gaters and the kudzu, a handful of master beekeepers are chasing the bloom of the Tupelo Gum Tree. Legendry Tupelo Honey is produced in the swamps along the Apalachiocola and Ochlockonee rivers in Florida on raised platforms often accessed by boat. To obtain this unique honey requires a master bee keeper with precise timing. For a high quality pure tupelo honey bees must only be allowed to forage on the Tupelo Gum Tree which blooms just 2-3 weeks each spring. Before the White Tupelo blooms, the Black Tupelo blooms which has an inferior taste but is used to build the strength of the colony. Allow the bees to forage too long and they will get Gallberry, another rare honey with a short season just after the Tupelo. This will result in a non-pure honey that will crystalize. Pure Tupelo honey will not crystalize due to it’s high fructose content.

ABOUT THE MAKER

The Lanier family has been harvesting Tupelo honey from hives in the Apalachicola River swamps for three generations. In fact, the spring 1998 crop was>Lavernor Laveon Lanier, Sr. started the business in the 1890's with a $500 loan from a wealthy local farmer. Having previously apprenticed as a beekeeper, L.L. Lanier, Sr. knew the trade. He recognized the unique qualities that could allow the swamps around Wewahitchka, Florida to produce a variety of honey that is in commercial production nowhere else in the world, even to this day. Pure tupelo honey is light amber with a greenish cast. It has a pear-like and hoppy aroma and a coveted flavor that fans describe as mild, delicate, buttery, floral, like cotton candy and rosewater. Because of its light floral aroma and balance it goes well with strong blue cheeses and peaches.

2 oz jar