Spotted lanternfly honey is a type of honeydew honey that bees produce after collecting the sugary waste excreted by spotted lanternflies. It’s safe for humans to eat, and it has a distinctive flavor profile that sets it apart from traditional flower-based honeys. As spotted lanternfly populations have spread across the eastern United States, this unusual honey has become an increasingly common (and sometimes unwelcome) find for beekeepers.
How Bees Make It
Spotted lanternflies feed on the sap of trees and excrete a sticky, sugar-rich fluid called honeydew. When lanternfly populations are dense, this honeydew coats leaves, branches, and surfaces beneath infested trees. Honeybees collect this sugary liquid just as they would flower nectar, bringing it back to the hive and processing it into honey through the same evaporation and enzyme process they use for any other nectar source.
This isn’t unique to spotted lanternflies. Honeydew honey has been produced for centuries in parts of Europe, where bees collect secretions from aphids and scale insects feeding on forest trees. Germany’s Black Forest honey is a well-known example. What makes the spotted lanternfly version notable is that it appeared suddenly in regions where beekeepers weren’t expecting it, and the sheer volume of honeydew these insects produce can dominate a hive’s food stores during late summer and fall.
What It Looks and Tastes Like
Spotted lanternfly honey is dark brown, though not as dark or black as buckwheat honey. It has a distinct smoky odor that immediately sets it apart from lighter, floral honeys. The sweetness is noticeably lower than traditional honey, and it leaves a lingering aftertaste.
Reactions to the flavor are genuinely split. In informal taste tests, roughly half or more of people who try it think it tastes great. The smoky, less-sweet profile appeals to people who enjoy bold, complex honeys. Bakeries in affected regions readily purchase it, since its deeper flavor works well in baked goods where a milder honey would get lost. On the other hand, some people find the taste unpleasant, especially if they’re expecting the light sweetness of clover or wildflower honey.
Is It Safe to Eat?
Yes. Penn State Extension confirms that honeydew honey from spotted lanternflies is safe for both bees and humans. The honeydew itself is not toxic, and laboratory testing of the finished honey found that pesticide residues from lanternfly treatment programs were exceedingly small, well below any level of concern.
This was an important question to answer, because spotted lanternflies are heavily targeted with insecticides across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and other states. Beekeepers worried that those chemicals might concentrate in the honey. So far, the testing data is reassuring on that front.
How It Affects Bee Colonies
Beekeepers initially worried that honeydew honey might harm their hives, either through nutritional deficiency or chemical contamination. The evidence has been encouraging. Colonies in areas where spotted lanternflies have been established for several years overwinter very well on stored honeydew honey. Bees appear to thrive on it as a food source, and there’s no indication it weakens colonies heading into cold months.
The bigger concern for many beekeepers is a practical one: if bees fill their supers with honeydew honey during a heavy lanternfly season, the beekeeper ends up with a product that looks and tastes very different from what their customers expect. For beekeepers who sell varietal honeys like wildflower or goldenrod, a batch of dark, smoky honeydew honey can be a hard sell unless they find the right market for it.
Selling and Using Lanternfly Honey
Some beekeepers have turned this situation into an opportunity. The novelty factor alone draws curious buyers, and the “invasive species honey” angle makes for compelling branding at farmers’ markets. The fact that bakeries actively seek it out provides a wholesale channel that doesn’t depend on convincing individual consumers to try something unfamiliar.
If you’re cooking or baking with it, treat it more like buckwheat honey than clover honey. Its lower sweetness and smoky depth pair well with hearty breads, marinades, cheese boards, and dark sauces. It’s less suited for applications where you want honey to be a clean, simple sweetener, like stirring into tea or drizzling over yogurt.