What is Clover honey?
Clover honey is honey produced by bees fed usuallyon the nectar of clover plants. The United States, New Zealand, and Canada are world’s highest producers of clover honey, with huge variety of quality. It’s easy to buy this type of honey at the supermarket because consumers like its mild, a bit floral flavor, and it is one of the cheapest types of honey available.
All honey — clover included — is gathered by honeybees. Bees produce honey of eaten nectar and pollen of various plants, it‘s being produced through a series of secretions. The honey is made of whatever flowers the bees feed on, so if they visit clover plants most of all, they produce clover-flavored honey.
Clover is a plant in the pea family and produces large amounts of nectar. In many parts of the world, people use clover to control erosion hillsides, as it roots well and deeply, holding the soil.
Beekeepers who are into production of clover honey place their hives in an area with a lot of clover or they also plant clover around their hives by themselves to make things easier. Unless the bees are in closed space, however, there is no way to guarantee that they will visit only these specific plants, there can be just a prediction.
More about Clover honey
It is often pretty difficult to find pure organic clover honey. Honey from bees that eat exclusively clover is pale yellow to almost white with a grassy. Most of the honey at the supermarkets sold under the “clover” description is usually just a blend of light colored honeys. If the label says, “pure clover,” it is common case that clover is the chief nectar, but not the one and the only flavor included. Because of that, not all bottles of clover honey — even those from the same manufacturer or farm — are going to taste the same.