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 Clover
honey is N ew
Zealand's most common honey type. New Zealand historicaly has
a pastoral economy and a reliance on sheep farming. Rye grass
and clover mixtures have dominated pastures with their high forage
yield and natural nitrogen fixing for soil fertility. The normal
cycle is that clover starts to predominate
in the pastures in late Spring and early Summer. The peak of the
honey flow is at the point where lowering moisture levels start
to slightly stress the plant. This
peak may last a few days or in exceptional
 circumstances
(perhaps when boosted by additional
rainfall) over a few weeks to produce a bump er
harvest. In many areas, high country pasture is oversown from
aerial top dressing and beehives in these areas can produce large
crops
of high quality clover honey.
Clover seed production is
another
large source of clover
forage for honeybees
and
under good conditions, clover
honey production can be
exceptional.
The main clover species in New Zealand is white clover (Trifolium
repens) but a variety of other clover species are present.
These include red clover (T. pratense), strawberry clover
(T. fragiferum), subterranean (T. subterraneum)
and alsike clover. Typically these different clovers have their
own flowering peiod that may be before or after the White
Clover flowering.
COLOUR
Clover honey has a normal colour range of 10 - 35 mm (pfund
scale). Approximately 80% of clover honey will fa ll
into this range. We typically grade clover into 4 colour ranges.
.
- 0-9mm
- 10-19mm
- 20-35mm
- Over
35mm
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Soil type can affect colour but blends with other honey types
are the most common cause of colour variance. Normally
honey from the South Island is lighter than honey from the North
Island, mainly due to the large number of difference floral
sources in the North Island.
Crop
Timing
The
clover crop usually starts around mid December and finishes
end of January. It can however start as early as November and
finish as late as early March. However normally the majority
of the crop is produced over a 2-3 week period in any one area.
Most producers will have the majority of their clover crop extracted
ready for sale by the end of March.
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