Black Locust Honey

Winner of the Garden & Gun Made in the South Awards! Taste the honey that four-time James Beard winner Andrew Zimmern called "is the extra-special kind you’d happily slather on a biscuit."

Black Locust is one of the first nectar sources for bees foraging in our Appalachian forests. The nectar produces a floral, fruity and delicate honey. Our beekeepers describe the flavor as very sweet, with hints of vanilla, and no aftertaste. They suggest pairing Black Locust honey with cheese to highlight the light flavor.

The fragrant honey is very clear and light in color, ranging from white to lemon yellow to even a beautiful faint green.

ABC partners’ careful beekeeping is required to avoid diluting the black locus honey with other nectars growing before and after the locust blossoms.

All of our delicious raw honey is produced by more than 100 local beekeepers in the forested mountains of Appalachia. We protect the bees, beekeepers, and our ecosystem by using no synthetic chemicals or antibiotics in any part of our process.

The Appalachian Beekeeping Collective is a project of Appalachian Headwaters, a non-profit organization working to restore formerly mined forest land and to bring jobs to the mountains of Appalachia. We recruit, educate, and support beekeepers in the mountains of Virginia and West Virginia, creating sustainable income for local communities.

The black locust tree is native to eastern and southeastern North America. It is a useful species for restoring mined land in Appalachia. This is because it is tolerant of poor soil and can actually help restore damaged soil thanks to the nodules of nitrogen-fixing bacteria on its roots. 

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