| |
  Vipers
Buglosshoney is produced predominantly in the Marlborough and
Otago provinces in New Zealand's South island. Other areas do
produce Vipers Bugloss from time to time, but are not the reliable
producers of quality product that Marlborough and Otago provinces
are.
The honey is a delicate flavour with a floral bouquet and being
high in fructose is excellent as a drink sweetener, especially
coffee where it imparts another flavour dimension. Vipers Bugloss
is a close relative of Salvation Jane (Echium plantagineum),
another well known honey plant from Australia.
The Vipers Bugloss plant (Echium vulgare)
is also variously
known as "Borage" and "Blue Borage" and
this at times leads to considerable confusion when the culinary
herb Blue Borage (Borago officinalis - see photo
on left), is mistaken as the source of this honey. Some beekeepers
and honey marketers also refer to Vipers Bugloss honey as "Borage"
and "Blue Borage" honey with several products being
marketed under these names in the New Zealand domestic market.
At present none of these products are Borago officinalis
honey.
In some years large quantities of Blue Borage (B. officinalis)
is cultivated as a seed crop in Canterbury province, primarily
for the extraction of Gama Linoleic Acid (GLA), and a surplus
honey crop from this source can arise. It is not known if GLA
is found in the honey from this source.
Vipers Bugloss on the other hand is not a cultivated plant but
rather grows wild in arid areas with poor soils. When young,
the plants are highly palatble to sheep and many high country
farmers rotate their stock in time with the growth of Vipers
Bugloss. Sometimes this is to the advantage of the beekeeper,
at others not. Vipers Bugloss is a biannual and grows with a
long root system making it drought resistant. It yields nectar
at lower temperatures than clover and the resultant honey is
often very dry with a chewy or tacky texture.
Colour
The honey averages 25mm on the Pfund
scale with a
standard deviation of 9mm. It also darkens at a faster rate
(double) than most other New Zealand honey and the colour has
a brown tint to it. The Pfund grader glass wedge is a
"generic" honey hue. Vipers Bugloss honey is more
brown that this generic colour.
Sugar Profile
Vipers Bugloss is a slow
crystallizing honey with a low (Glucose-Water)/Fructose
ratio. It is a more reliable crop than Nodding
Thistle (our other slow crystallizing, light coloured honey)
and so is sought after as a source of comb
honey for the production of chunk honey. There are few honey
types in the World that can reliably be used for chunk honey
and Vipers Bugloss is one of them.
Crop Timing
Vipers Bugloss flowers from December to March and peaks dependant
on available moisture. Rain during the flowering period can
extend the flowering or start a heavier flowering if dry conditions
have prevailed prior to rain.
|
