Years ago, I was mentored in beekeeping by a commercial beekeeper. He often said to get the honey off the hive before the rabbitbrush plant starts to bloom because its flowers makes the honey taste bad. The day came when I was too busy to get the honey off the hive before the rabbitbrush bloomed. The resulting honey was awful, it tasted rubbery and smelled like bat guano. But I never threw it away. By the way, Rabbitbrush’s species name was aptly named nauseosa. Thirty years later I decided to open a bottle of it. To my surprise the bad guano smell was totally gone, and it had aged into the best tasting honey I have ever tasted.
Growing Home: Rabbitbrush and honey
