What's the difference between honey and wildflower honey?

Honey is a general term used for the sweet nectar the bees gather and bring back to the colony for sustenance.  Some beekeepers call this product honey, and others can determine the floral source that the majority of the crop has been produced from.

When a flower blooms and produces nectar (not all flowers produce nectar), the flavors will all be distinctive to its botanical variety. A sourwood blossom's nectar will taste different from a crimson clover nectar, or a tupelo honey nectar. 

Bees will generally visit the same variety of flowers to collect nectar, however when a honey flow is on from several floral sources at the same time, some bees will visit one variety, and some the other varieties. This will result in a blended honey of multiple floral sources. Many novice beekeepers just call all their product "honey". Experienced beekeepers can differentiate the flavors in the honey, and frequently one of the varieties of honey can be a majority.  In the case when one flavor dominates the blend, the beekeeper will call the honey by the dominant flavor (it's floral variety).

It is quite difficult or impossible to have a honey that is 100% one floral variety. That would mean the bees only visited one type of flower during it's bloom season.  Unfortunately we cannot tell our bees where to forage.

 
Wildflower honey is gathered from a variety of wildflower blossoms. The honey is usually darker in color, with a stronger, bolder flavor. It is a favorite of mine over mild honey because of this bolder flavor.  If I have a variety of honey that I cannot differentiate the floral sources it contains, I might just call it "Honey".  It's not a bad thing, just a generalized term. In my area, I am aware of most of the honey flows that my bees are foraging.

Honey is regional.  So depending on where you are located in North America, or anywhere in the world for that matter, you will be exposed to different varieties of honey.   I would encourage you to try different varieties of honey, keeping in mind that generally darker honeys are stronger in flavor, and lighter honeys tend to be milder.

Visit HoneyBeesRock.com to see my varieties of Honey! And, yes, Honeybees do ROCK!