Does the type of plants bees gather pollen from having any bearing as to what their honey will taste like? Does one type of flower make a different flavor honey over another? Or doesn’t it make any difference?
IMHO, it can make a huge difference in the taste of the honey.
The Bee Folks sell honey made from a wide variety of different plant flowers. I’va tried several of their varieties, and can notice a definite difference in flavors between them.
Certain flowers yield nectars that can have a decided effect on honey flavor. Blueberry and raspberry nectar yield a very finely aromatic and distinctly flavored honey. You have to be sure you’re not buying mixed wildflower honey, which while good, is not reminiscent of any particular fruit flavor. Honeybees tend to do their nectaring from the same flowers in season. You’d be surprised at some plants we would call weeds, or overlook completely, are very fine beeplants. Put some hives in a field of blooming blueberry bushes, and the eventual honey from those hives will have an identifiable flavor. The beekeeper is aware when the nectar source is drying up, and may choose to extract the small amount of honey he has, so as to be able to tell his customers that it is reliably from only one kind of flower. I’m not saying it’s a substitute for blueberry pie, but it is exceptional. It’s when the bloom time changes from one plant to another kind, that you get the mixing of flavors, and the individual tastes become less identifiable. Some honeys are very strongly flavored, buckwheat and tupelo come to mind. More mild honeys include orange blossom and clover. The original post makes mention of pollen, which can be an accidental adulterant in the commercial honey. Bees use that for themselves, clever those females, huh? Some grains may find their way into the extraction units used, but some beekeepers filter their honey so you’d not usually see any, unless there were large quantities. Buy a couple different single flower types and do a taste test.