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Honeydew Honey

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Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow.  If you like the pine resin flavored Greek wine retsina, I have a honey suggestion for you. At Honey Travelers Single Flower honey page, they talk about forest or honeydew honey. Honeydew is the substance that aphids excrete – it is the bane of many gardeners as it coats the surface of lower leaves this sweet substance upon which sooty mold grows. But in the fir and spruce forests of Europe, certain aphids feed mainly on these conifer needles  and their exudate, is not only filled with sugars but also resinous substances produced by the trees.  Aphids are vegetarians so the excess fluid they excrete is practically nothing but sugar-filled sap. The  bees collect the excreted substances instead of nectar, taking it back to their hives were it is transformed into honey. This dark complex honey is apparently an acquired taste.

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Amanda McNulty is a Clemson University Extension Horticulture agent and the host of South Carolina ETV’s Making It Grow! gardening program. She studied horticulture at Clemson University as a non-traditional student. “I’m so fortunate that my early attempts at getting a degree got side tracked as I’m a lot better at getting dirty in the garden than practicing diplomacy!” McNulty also studied at South Carolina State University and earned a graduate degree in teaching there.