Cascade Natural Honey Company
Raw and Natural Honey
206.920.2150
Cascade Natural Honey Company, a small scale producer and packager of quality local and northwest varietal honey(s). Because of the limited number of hives maintained by Cascade Natural Honey Co. and the effort made to gather distinct varieties, our honey is processed in a manner different than larger, commercial beekeeping operations. On such a small scale, CNH Co. can produce a variety of local Western Washington honeys including Blackberry, Raspberry, Blueberry, Knotweed, Fireweed and others. Our honeys produced in Eastern Washington include an Alfalfa, Purple Loosestrife, Sweet Clover, Buckwheat, Baby’s Breath and Barnaby Thistle honeys. All of our honey is processed without the prophylactic use of chemicals and/or without the application of heat during the extraction, filtering and packaging processes. Methods such as these, which are often not feasible in a large-scale commercial operation, insure that the raw and natural taste and texture of the honey is maintained.
Our varietal honey vary from year to year and may include those listed below.
Moving from light to dark in color and taste;
- Fireweed honey, produced in the western Cascades. Fireweed is a clear-colored light tasting honey and often considered to be benchmark for a northwest honey in terms of quality and taste. Fireweed honey can vary in color from clear to mid-amber depending on the flow of other late mountain nectar sources.
- Raspberry honey, produced in the western Cascade lowlands. Raspberry honey is often the product of direct pollination of commercial raspberry fields. Raspberry honey, characteristically light in color, has a very sweet sugary taste and often very quick to turn solid.
- Thistle and Baby’s Breath honey, from the Winthrop and Twisp in eastern Washington. Both are light colored, fragrant and very thick honeys, Late season varietals, both are quick to turn solid.
- Blackberry honey, produced in the western Cascade lowlands. Blackberry honey is produced from the nectar derived from wild blackberries. The blackberry honey flow is the dominant northwest nectar source. Light to amber in color, blackberry honey has a tart and fruity taste. Blackberry honey is asily the most common local honey.
- Blueberry honey, produced from the direct pollination of the City of Bellevue’s blueberry fields in the early summer. Blueberry is mid-colored honey with a similar taste to blackberry honey but with more attitude, character and taste.
- Blackberry/knotweed Blends. A mid-colored honey has a mixture of both nectar sources. A great combination as combines the “snap” of aftertaste from the blackberry with the richer taste of knotweed. This honey is obtained by leaving the honey supers on for an extended period whereby the nectar flows overlap in the late summer and fall.
- Sweet Clover. Blooms at the height of summer, Light and sweet tasting with a floral fragrance. Often includes other nectar sources such as Horehound Mint and Russian Olive.
- Wildflower Honey produced in Snohomish early in the year and prior to the major blackberry nectar flow. This honey will be the product of early blooming nectar sources such as dandelion and maple.
- Purple Loosestrife Honey. Produced in the Columbia Basin late in the season. Color trends to near green. Fragrant dark, thick honey with long lasting taste.
- Buckwheat/Alfalfa Blends. Purchased from northern Californian. A very thick and almost caramel colored honey. These blends have a very strong and incredibly fragrant aroma but do not possess an overpowering taste. Often this honey achieves the texture of creamed honey shortly after bottling.
- Japanese knotweed Blends. Produced very late in the year (September) along the western Washington river bottoms. Fragrant and rich, pure knotweed honey can almost be deep purple in color. For a darker honey, knotweed is considered to have a wonderful taste and texture. Look for this honey to become more and more common as a northwest classic honey variety.
- Buckwheat honey. Buckwheat is a near black and thick honey with an overpowering taste and fragrance. A common honey in Eastern Europe and favored by those who have lived in this part of the world. A honey that is on the far right of the color, taste and texture continuum.