The North Carolina Sand Hills are said to be the only place in the world where bees produce a purple honey that looks more like an alien substance.
Photos from open sources / @GoldenChinchilla / Reddit
It sounds unusual, but this honey is able to attract lovers of bee products from all over the world. This extremely rare liquid is quite real. Purple honey is said to be sweeter than the amber variety and apparently also has subtle fruity notes.
Several photos of jars of purple honey have gone viral on Reddit and sparked a heated debate about whether the honey is real or not. But it turns out that it is real and for the inhabitants of North Carolina this is a hard-to-find delicacy. Rose honey is hard to come by even in North Carolina.
The color of honey, ranging from light yellow to dark amber, depends on the type of flower from which the bees take nectar, but in the case of purple honey, the cause has yet to be determined. Some swear it comes from fruits like blueberries and blackberries, although scientists and beekeepers will tell you that bees don’t have strong enough jaws to bite through the skin of these berries. Others say that the flowers of the kudzu plant give it an unusual color, and some are convinced that it is a southern leather tree, but in fact, no one knows for sure.
According to Professor John Ambrose of North Carolina State University, purple honey may be the result of a chemical reaction between bee stomach acid and aluminum. Apparently, flowers in coastal North Carolina contain more aluminum than anywhere else, which explains why this rare honey is only produced in North Carolina.
Many who have been lucky enough to taste purple honey claim that it actually has a subtle flavor of grapes or berries.
“He’s sweet. It is produced by bees, but it has a fruity flavor,” said beekeeper Donald Deese. “It kind of goes with the unusual character of purple honey. It’s a fruity scent that no one can really identify.”
Purple honey is a rare treat, usually priced higher than the regular variety. However, due to its currently growing popularity, the demand for it has grown even more, and beekeepers in North Carolina are reporting orders from all over the world.
