Reminds me of the story about the red (and not great tasting) honey bees were making in Brooklyn... from sipping up liquid from the local maraschino cherry factory.
Baffling purple honey found only in North Carolina
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Re: Baffling purple honey found only in North Carolina
#12Reminds me of the "discovery" of synchronous fireflies in 1990: >Scientists got wise to the presence of synchronous fireflies in the U.S. in the 1990’s, thanks to the efforts of Faust, a citizen naturalist. “Growing up in east Tennessee, we called them lightning bugs. They're just part of summer,” she says. In the early 1990’s, Faust read an article in a science news magazine that said there were no synchronous firef…
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Re: Baffling purple honey found only in North Carolina
#13any soft drink plants in the area? A bottler near where I used to stay got caught dumping out expired flavourant packs when honey in the area started turning red.
Yep, same happened near me before. Local beekeepers got some real dark colored rootbeer honey.
Re: Baffling purple honey found only in North Carolina
#14any soft drink plants in the area? A bottler near where I used to stay got caught dumping out expired flavourant packs when honey in the area started turning red.
oh great... grape flavored honey...
From the article
>Flavour-wise, she says, "to my untrained palate, the honey really does taste purple, in a grape-y sort of way".
Oh no
Re: Baffling purple honey found only in North Carolina
#15any soft drink plants in the area? A bottler near where I used to stay got caught dumping out expired flavourant packs when honey in the area started turning red.
A bit of digging, and it turns out there's a Coca-cola bottler in Aberdeen, the same area as Dees Bees Apiary. I'm willing to bet that purple honey coincides with grape Fanta spills or dumps
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Re: Baffling purple honey found only in North Carolina
#16There’s a hopefully unrelated concept called purple urine bag syndrome I have seen. Not completely understood either but this paper thinks due to a combination of dietary tryptophan breakdown from constipation and colonic E coli load, urinary bacteria, and reaction with the plastic tubing of the catheter and bag.
Re: Baffling purple honey found only in North Carolina
#17Reminds me of the "discovery" of synchronous fireflies in 1990: >Scientists got wise to the presence of synchronous fireflies in the U.S. in the 1990’s, thanks to the efforts of Faust, a citizen naturalist. “Growing up in east Tennessee, we called them lightning bugs. They're just part of summer,” she says. In the early 1990’s, Faust read an article in a science news magazine that said there were no synchronous firef…
I didn't realize all fireflies didn't tend to synchronized. Fun read. Fireflies are one of the only "bugs" from the south that I miss. Cicadas, I suppose, have a bit of a soft spot with me. Everything else... nope.
Cicadas are so bizarre. A couple of summers ago I was around Des Moines and Ames, IA and was completely baffled by the strange noise that seemed to be everywhere and yet impossible to localize. After a few days I heard someone talking about the cicadas and learned something new!
Re: Baffling purple honey found only in North Carolina
#18Why hasn’t the honey been tested, if this has happened for such a long time?
I’d bet on some kind of contamination as others have already mentioned.
Re: Baffling purple honey found only in North Carolina
#19Why hasn’t the honey been tested, if this has happened for such a long time? I’d bet on some kind of contamination as others have already mentioned.
Yeah maybe time to send a sample to the “mass spec everything” guy
Re: Baffling purple honey found only in North Carolina
#20Why hasn’t the honey been tested, if this has happened for such a long time? I’d bet on some kind of contamination as others have already mentioned.
Yeah maybe time to send a sample to the “mass spec everything” guy
This guy, yeah?: https://www.youtube.com/@MassSpecEverything