Packaging
The title of the album derives from the varietal honey produced from the flowers of the tupelo tree found predominantly in Florida.
The photos on the album were taken by Michael Maggid, a friend of Morrison's then wife Janet Planet, in the town of Fairfax. The original LP was released in a gatefold sleeve. The cover photograph showed Planet, riding bareback on a horse, with Morrison walking alongside. The gatefold and back cover photographs showed Morrison perched upon the fence of the horse's paddock, with his wife standing to his right and a black-and-white kitten on the fence to his left. This rural setting depicting a bygone era was in vogue on album covers at the time as rock artists moved from cities to rural communities. The Band, CSNY and Grateful Dead had similar themes on album covers in 1969 and 1970. Morrison later complained of the cover, explaining that, "The picture was taken at a stable and I didn't live there. We just went there and took the picture and split. A lot of people seem to think that album covers are your life or something."
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