Wewahitchka, it’s a small town with a giant mouth full of a name. Pronounced “WEE-wah-HITCH-kuh,” this tiny town located on Florida’s Forgotten Coast is actually the world’s (yes world’s, not city’s, not coast’s, not state’s, not country’s, but WORLD’s) largest producer of Tupelo Honey.
What is Tupelo Honey?
The Tupelo variety of honey comes from a green-white blossom produced by the white tupelo gum tree. The blossoms of the tree are incredibly fragile and only bloom for a few weeks a year, or sometimes just days, depending upon the year and the weather. In a good year the tupelo tree will bloom for three weeks. Through several years of experience in perfecting the art of beekeeping and tree farming, Tupelo producers in Wewahitchka have been able to turn the town into the largest Tupelo honey producer.
The color of raw Tupelo honey is very light as compared to other honey it is extra-light to light amber with a cloudy green hue when held up to light. Tupelo honey has a unique and well-loved flavor consisting of a bright fruity burst that dissolves easily on the tongue that is then finished up with a soft buttery taste. It quickly becomes a favorite must have of those who try it.
Enjoy a Honey Tasting in Wewahitchka
At Smiley Honey, located on 163 Bozeman Circle, you can enjoy a free honey tasting and a lot of education about honey. In addition to the world’s best Tupelo honey, Smiley Honey offers different types of unique honey from all around the world. They even carry a coffee honey. This is honey made from the nectar of coffee plant blooms that carries a hint of caffeine and a smokey flavor straight from one of the world’s largest coffee producers, Guatemala. If you so desire, you can taste every single type of honey that Smiley Honey sells. The most often favorite of every honey taster is of course the Tupelo honey produced by Smiley Honey themselves.
Come and enjoy a little bit of time tasting honey you never knew existed and learning interesting facts that will make you go “hmmm!” Or “wow!” Or “Huh!” Or maybe even “how about that!”
Another perk to Tupelo honey besides its amazing taste……. It doesn’t crystalize and turn into large hard sugar rocks like some local or raw honeys you can pick up. This is because Tupelo honey is not the traditional honey made from wildflowers in a particular area. This means it will always be the smooth, great tasting, sweet, yummy honey that you first purchased, not big hard chunks.
In addition to tasting almost every honey ever made, you can buy a bottle of your favorite kind and take it home to enjoy. You would think the prices would be a bit higher for boutique honey from a small business in a small town, but it is very comparable to grocery store prices, and in some cases cheaper for a higher quality honey. You can also purchase other items like actual beeswax lip balm made from those hard working Tupelo honey producing bees and lotion.
Smiley Honey is open from 8 am to 3 pm Monday through Friday for free tastings and if you just want some honey, but can’t get there until after closing, they have a honey stand outside.
For more information on living in Wewahitchka including Wewahitchka real estate and other surrounding areas of the Forgotten Coast, please contact us any time.
