Found primarily along the Gulf Coast, Chinese tallow is a very distinctive, dark honey. It’s too pungent for most consumers, but when manufacturers blend it with other ingredients it establishes a sweet honey flavor. That’s why food processors often use it as an industrial or bulk ingredient honey.

Beekeepers in the southeast have raised concerns regarding the ongoing removal of a favored plant species for their managed hives, the Chinese tallow tree (Triadica sebifera). Producing flowers as early as February and lasting through May, the Chinese tallow tree has been heavily utilized as a nectar-rich resource for these non-native insect pollinators, contributing to the economic production of honey and deployed pollination services for cultivated crops.