Honey without bees - honeybush

General Fruit Growing
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Did you mean to post about two different plants that share a common name?

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@JohannsGarden

Yes I did they are compared.

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Huh. That is a fascinating plant group.

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I’m confused. I actually see three different species now. Rooibos and Cyclopia are both used for tea, but Melianthus is considered toxic and wouldn’t be used for tea. The video about Cyclopia as a sweetener appears to be AI generated and I don’t find that as a valid use when I search Cyclopia as a sweetener on google. Although Rooibos and Cyclonia are not used as sweeteners, the nectar from Melianthus apparently can be consumed despite the plant itself being toxic.

I would be interested in a bit of explanation for the correlation between these three plants since it appears that at least two of them do not relate to the post title.

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The video about honeybush left out one important fact about making honeybush syrup at home. How much water do you have to boil off to make syrup from the water extract that they described? If it’s a lot, the syrup will be too expensive.

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@JohannsGarden

There are many more than that. There are over 20 species closely related. The purpose of this topic is pointing out that they exist and to identify ones we could potentially grow that are from South Africa. If you want to sample several you can get both the tea and honey on Amazon and elsewhere. The problem I see with this is nobody had even brought this entire group of plants up. There is some comparison on the thread but every forum completely missed these plants.

@vitog

I was thinking the same thing I would imagine it is similar to maple syrup only stronger. The boiling down period is discussed for tea but I bet it’s a long process for the honey flavored syrup. The fact we can get these bushes in the USA demonstrates there is interest although the majority of people have not heard of these yet.

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But Melianthus isn’t even in the same plant family as Cyclopia… I think you might have accidentally lumped them together based on their common names.

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I find the coastal growing one would be the most apt for our climate.

But this crowds in with what I wanted White seeded Sorghum for. Makes a very light, tannin-less syrup.

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@JohannsGarden

They were actually compared in one of the videos or articles I read. I read a ton of material.