Tupelo Honey: Swamps, Bees, and Southern Taste

Season 8 Episode 6: About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Tupelo Honey: Swamps, Bees, and Southern Taste

In this episode of About Bees, Culture, and Curiosity, we travel into the flooded river forests of Florida and Georgia to explore the remarkable story of tupelo honey - one of the rarest and most celebrated honeys in North America.

Produced mainly from the blossoms of the Ogeechee tupelo tree, Nyssa ogeche, tupelo honey has fascinated beekeepers, scientists, musicians, and food lovers for generations. We examine the ecology of the tupelo swamps along the Apalachicola River, the brief spring nectar flow, and the unusual chemistry that gives tupelo honey its legendary sweetness and resistance to crystallization.

The episode explores the early history of tupelo beekeeping, including the era when bees and honey were moved through flooded forests by boats and barges. We also examine modern pressures on the tupelo industry, including environmental change, river management, overcrowding of bee yards, and authenticity concerns in premium honey markets.

Along the way, we connect the science and folklore of tupelo honey to Van Morrison's classic song "Tupelo Honey" and the film Ulee's Gold, starring Peter Fonda.

From native pollinators that visited tupelo trees long before honey bees arrived in North America, to the modern commercial honey harvest, this is the story of a landscape, a tree, and one of the most distinctive honeys ever produced.

Recorded in Calgary, May 2026

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