Titi honey

Flavour and aroma

Aroma

light florals, fresh hay

Flavour

mild floral, light caramel

Finish

Short and clean.

Flavour character

• Floral and fruity — floral

Colour, texture and crystallisation

Colour

1. Water white0–8 mm
2. Extra white8–17 mm
3. White17–34 mm
4. Extra light amber34–50 mm — this honey
5. Light amber50–85 mm — this honey
6. Amber85–114 mm
7. Dark amber114+ mm

Pale gold, clear and bright — an attractive honey from an unwelcome flow.

On setting: Sets to a pale cream.

Texture

Runny; Thick but pourable; Soft set

Crystallisation

Moderate, step 3 of 5, from very slow to very fast

Moderate — granulates over a few months; sets with a fine crystal.

A moderate and even set with a fine grain.

Typical composition

Moisture

16–19% (typically 17.5%)

Fructose

36–41% (typically 38%)

Glucose

30–36% (typically 33%)

pH

3.6–4.3 (typically 3.9)

Electrical conductivity

0.1–0.4 mS/cm (typically 0.25 mS/cm)

These are typical ranges assembled across published work, not measurements of a specific honey.

What these mean: the sugars and the ratio · moisture · conductivity · how each is measured

Where it comes from

Floral source

Cliftonia monophylla, black titi or buckwheat tree, a shrub of southeastern swamp and bay forest. The related white titi, Cyrilla racemiflora, flowers later and does not cause the same problem.

Origins

The coastal plain of the southeastern United States — Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.

Origin pages

• United States
• Southeastern United States

Resolved from both directions — origins this honey names, and origins that name it.

Typical harvest

February to April (northern hemisphere)

Very early, before the main southeastern flows, which is part of why the effect on brood is so damaging — colonies are building up.

A typical window for the honey type, HoneyHQ synthesis — not a calendar for any one place.

The bees

The relationship is genuinely negative for the bees. Larvae fed on black titi pollen and nectar in quantity turn purple and die, an effect known for over a century and still not fully explained chemically. Adult bees are unaffected.

Usual processing

Raw, Coarsely strained, Spun (centrifugally extracted)

Deliberately avoided by most southeastern beekeepers, who move colonies out of black titi areas before it flowers. The honey exists in small quantities as a by-product of hives that were not moved in time.

What to do with it

An ordinary mild table honey. It is in this catalogue for what it does to bees rather than for what it does on toast.

At the tableSpreadingBaking

Pairings

• Fresh cow's milk cheeses

  Both mild; nothing competes.

• Plain biscuits and shortbread

  A mild honey on a plain base.

Similar honeys and substitutes

Three different questions with different answers: a honey that tastes alike can behave differently in a recipe, and the same set texture says nothing about flavour. Each list is chosen from the recorded fields that matter to its question — and, where tasting panels or specifications described both honeys, the terms they share — and every suggestion says which, and what will be different. Compare it side by side or build a tasting flight.

History and traditional use

Purple brood has been recorded in southeastern American beekeeping literature since the nineteenth century, and the association with black titi was established early. The chemical cause remains unidentified, which is unusual for a phenomenon this consistent and this old.

Claims about this honey