DevonBees_Em · Devon, UK · Honey · Jun 14, 2026
Privet blooming everywhere around my apiary — is the off-taste thing real or bee folklore?
Devon, fourth year, five hives. The farm hedges around my out-apiary are absolutely humming with privet bloom right now, and the bees are working it hard in the mornings alongside the last of the clover.
An old boy at the association meeting sucked his teeth when I mentioned it and said privet honey is bitter, 'ruins a crop', and I should hope for rain. But when I search around, half the sources repeat that and half say nobody can point to an actual ruined harvest and it's one of those inherited warnings.
My summer supers are maybe a third full. Realistically, with privet as one source among many for a few weeks, am I going to taste it in the blend? Anyone actually harvested honey they could confidently blame on privet? Not going to move hives over hedge gossip but I'd like to know if I should keep this crop separate.
#privet#honey-flavour#forage#summer-flow
▲ 7 votes
💬 3 replies
muglabalci · Jun 14, 2026
The reputation is real but the dose matters. Privet nectar does carry a bitter, slightly medicinal edge — I've tasted near-pure privet once in 15 years, from hives boxed in by kilometres of hedge during a dearth, and it earned the folklore. As one source among clover and bramble for a few weeks, it disappears into the blend. Your nose will know before your customers do: pull a bit of uncapped nectar on a hive tool and taste it if you're worried.
BuckfastLinda · Jun 15, 2026
Flanders has privet hedges everywhere and I've never once had a complaint or tasted it in my summer crop. The colonies always have better options in June unless the weather shuts everything else down. If you want to be careful, just keep this super's harvest jarred separately and taste before you blend with your spring honey — costs you nothing but a label.
DevonBees_Em · Jun 15, 2026
That's reassuring — taste test on the hive tool this week and I'll jar these supers separately just in case, then blend if it's fine. Suspect the old boy's ruined crop happened one drought year in 1987 and has been law ever since.
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