Honeydew honey is honey made from sugar-rich honeydew that honeybees collect from plant surfaces, rather than from flower nectar. Sap-feeding insects such as aphids and scale insects produce this sticky material, and bees can gather it and transform it into stored honey.
Where the honeydew starts
Aphids and other plant-sap-feeding insects draw fluids from plants and excrete sugar-rich droplets called honeydew. These droplets can coat leaves, bark and nearby surfaces. Ants are also attracted to honeydew, which is why sticky leaves sometimes have ant activity. Honeydew is not the same thing as nectar made by a flower.
How honeybees turn it into honey
When honeydew is available, foragers can collect droplets and bring the sugars back to their colony. Worker bees process and concentrate the material, reducing moisture and eventually storing mature honey in wax cells. The hive processing resembles the steps used for floral nectar, but the starting sugar mixture differs.
How does the finished honey taste?
Honeydew honey can be dark, rich or less overtly floral than some blossom honeys, but color and flavor vary by source and region. The label should not be treated as a guarantee that every batch tastes the same. Both floral honey and honeydew honey are high-sugar foods, and both are unsafe to feed to infants younger than 12 months because of botulism risk.
Why a forest can produce honey without many flowers
Forested areas with sap-feeding insects may supply honeydew even when flowering plants are less conspicuous. This helps explain why some forest or fir honeys are associated with honeydew sources. It does not mean that all forest honey comes from honeydew, or that every dark honey must be honeydew-based.
Frequently asked questions
Is honeydew honey made directly by aphids?
No. Aphids produce the honeydew droplets; honeybees collect and process them into honey.
Is honeydew honey the same as honey made from flowers?
Both are honey made by bees, but their raw sugar sources differ, which can affect composition, color and taste.
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