The invasive insects have been spreading across the United States for over a decade, leaving behind poop that bees are transforming into a less sweet, sometimes savory, honey

Sarah Kuta - Daily Correspondent

December 12, 2025 11:41 a.m.

Spotted lanternflies have spread to nearly 20 states since 2014. Caitlyn Johnstone / Chesapeake Bay Program via Flickr under CC BY-NC 2.0

Ever since they first arrived in America in 2014, invasive spotted lanternflies have been making their presence known. Native to China and Southeast Asia, these speckled, brightly colored pests are wreaking havoc on trees and crops, divebombing joggers and leaving their sticky secretions—called honeydew—all over cars and lawn furniture. Government officials have implored residents to squash the bugs whenever they see them.

Now, yet another ripple effect of the invasion is starting to emerge: Spotted lanternflies are affecting the flavor, color and smell of honey.

In recent years, beekeepers have started finding dark, reddish-brown honey with an unusual flavor and aroma in their hives. The mysterious honey only shows up in the fall. After a bit of scientific sleuthing, entomologists in Pennsylvania figured out the strange liquid was spotted lanternfly honey.

Spotted lanternfly honey is still made by bees. However, it’s a very different substance.

Traditionally, bees make honey from nectar, the sweet, sugary substance flowering plants produce to draw in pollinators. When bees, moths, butterflies and hummingbirds slurp up the delicious stuff, they inadvertently pick up pollen and buzz it over to the next flower, allowing the plants to cross-pollinate and, ultimately, reproduce.

Bees bring some of this nectar back to their hives and transform it into honey, which serves as a vital source of food during the winter months. To do so, they first store the collected nectar in a special “honey stomach,” where it mixes with enzymes. Back at the hive, they regurgitate the enzyme-laden nectar and pass it along to other bees, which add even more enzymes. Eventually, they spread the nectar into the honeycomb and fan it vigorously with their wings to help it dry out, transforming the once-watery liquid into a thick, sticky prize.

As it turns out, this process works just as well with honeydew, the sugary liquid spotted lanternflies excrete after eating tree sap—basically, insect poop. During the late summer and fall, when nectar-rich flowers are starting to dwindle, bees are apparently taking advantage of the abundance of honeydew.

Need to know: What’s the current status of spotted lanternflies in the United States?

The bugs first appeared in Pennsylvania in 2014, likely after catching a ride via imported goods. Since then, spotted lanternflies have spread to at least 19 states and Washington, D.C.

Spotted lanternfly honey is safe to eat, with testing finding “exceedingly small” amounts of pesticides from lanternfly treatment efforts in it, according to Penn State Extension. Safety aside, the pleasure of eating it is an entirely different conversation: Some individuals can’t stand spotted lanternfly honey, which is often described as having a smoky, savory aroma with a lingering aftertaste, while others find it perfectly palatable.

“In unofficial taste tests, half or more of the people that try this honey think it tastes great,” according to Penn State Extension.

European beekeepers have long been harvesting honey made from honeydew, although, in their case, the honeydew comes from aphids and other insects, not spotted lanternflies. They tend to market it as “forest honey.”

Even so, American beekeepers were initially concerned, worried that lanternfly honey might damage the industry’s reputation. But the unusual substance seems to be catching on. Researchers are investigating its antimicrobial properties and possible health benefits and, at least so far, American consumers seem to be intrigued.

“I tell myself if it’s good enough for the bees, if the bees are OK with it, I have a little more faith in it,” says Jan Day, president of the D.C. Beekeeper’s Alliance, to the Washington Post’s Brittany Shammas.

Some beekeepers are even using the honey’s unique insect poop origins to their advantage, promoting it as a bit of a novel curiosity with a noteworthy backstory. The Philadelphia Bee Company, for example, has branded its spotted lanternfly honey as “Doom Bloom”—and it’s become a bestseller, as Amanda Loudin reported for Offrange in 2024.

Meanwhile, for beekeepers who aren’t so enamored with the stuff, there’s some good news. Spotted lanternfly honey only tends to show up in hives in the late summer and fall, when bees are usually winding down the production of nectar honey. So, the invasive bugs aren’t necessarily tainting beekeepers’ normal supply but, rather, giving them a late-season boost.

Bill Vondrasek, a longtime hobbyist beekeeper in Maryland, for instance, usually harvests about 300 pounds of honey per year. But recently, that annual harvest has risen to around 700 pounds.

In 2023, “I noticed a different kind of honey that showed up in between our normal spring and fall harvests,” he told Offrange. “I never stopped harvesting this year, when I would normally take a break over summer.”

And if beekeepers don’t like spotted lanternfly honey, they can simply “harvest the honey from the hives before the spotted lantern flies get active with producing honeydew,” says Medard Lutmerding, president of the Central Ohio Beekeepers Association, to WOSU Public Media’s Allie Vugrincic. They can leave behind the spotted lanternfly honey to serve as winter food for their bees.

“Beekeepers in areas where lanternflies have been established for several years see that honey bees overwinter very well on this type of stored food,” according to Penn State Extension.

So, in light of all this extra honey, should members of the public keep stomping on any spotted lanternflies they see? Beekeepers and entomologists agree—yes, yes they should. The invasive bugs are still doing more harm than good.

“We don’t really want them, but if they’re going to be there, then the bees can take advantage. That’s how I see it,” Robyn Underwood, an entomologist and educator with Penn State Extension, tells the Post.

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