The best dark honeys
Colour is a rough proxy for strength and a reliable one, because the compounds that darken a honey are largely the ones that flavour it. Dark honeys are the cooking honeys.
142 of 263 honeys · starting from a taste
The rule behind this list
Honeys spanning the amber or dark amber Pfund colour grades — the two darkest bands on the standard optical scale.
What these have in common
Amber and dark amber honeys carry higher mineral content, higher phenolic content and — in the honeydews — a markedly higher pH and conductivity than pale floral honeys. That is measurable rather than impressionistic, and it explains why dark honeys taste of malt, molasses, minerals and bitterness rather than of blossom. It is also why they survive baking: their character is structural rather than volatile.
Where to start
Buckwheat, which is the archetype — malt, molasses and dark bread, and cheap enough to cook with. Then a honeydew, which will be savoury and mineral in a way that surprises anyone expecting honey to be sweet.
What this group is not for
Delicate food of any kind, and anyone who wants honey to taste like honey in the supermarket sense. Dark honeys also stain and colour anything they are baked into, which matters in a pale sponge.
The honeys, by intensity
Grouped by how much a honey asserts itself, which decides more choices than origin, colour or price. Within a band the order is catalogue order — there is no ranking here and none is implied.
Moderate — 47 honeys, showing 9
- Brazilian pepper honeyLight amberWarm and peppery with a distinct resinous spice and a faint tartness — genuinely reminiscent of the pink peppercorns the plant produces.
- Jataí honeyExtra light amberSharply acidic and fruity with a fermented tang — closer to a sharp fruit syrup than to what most people expect honey to taste like.
- Red maple honeyExtra light amberWarm and lightly caramelised with a faint woody note — a straightforward honey, and one that surprises people expecting it to taste of maple syrup.
- Blackbutt honeyLight amberWarm and caramelised with a light resinous edge — one of the milder eucalypt honeys and a good introduction to the group.
- Spotted gum honeyLight amberWarm and caramelised with a light resinous lift and a rounded finish — a middle-weight eucalypt honey and a very usable one.
- Western Australian wildflower honeyExtra light amberComplex and variable, generally warm and lightly caramelised with a resinous myrtaceous lift and considerable site-to-site difference.
- New Zealand bush honeyExtra light amberWarm and rounded with a light caramel base and a faint resinous lift, and considerable variation between regions — generally more approachable than any of its monofloral components.
- Eucalyptus honeyExtra light amberWoody and faintly medicinal, with caramel and a cool eucalypt lift. More savoury than its colour suggests.
- Wildflower honeyExtra whiteVaries with the season and the landscape. Pale spring crops are floral and light; late-summer crops darker, fruitier and stronger.
Pronounced — 74 honeys, showing 9
- Almond blossom honeyLight amberDistinctly bitter with a marzipan aroma over it — one of the few honeys where bitterness arrives before sweetness, and an acquired taste even among people who like bitter honeys.
- Purple loosestrife honeyAmberStrong and tangy with a distinct green herbal note over dark caramel — an unusual profile that some tasters find sharp and others find refreshing.
- Mountain laurel honeyExtra light amberReported as bitter and sharp with a burning sensation in the throat, though the toxin is not reliably detectable by taste — which is the single most important fact about it.
- Rabbitbrush honeyAmberStrong and resinous with a bitter herbal edge and a distinctly medicinal note — one of the more challenging American honeys and an acquired taste at best.
- Huisache honeyLight amberStrongly floral with a distinct violet and orange-blossom perfume over warm caramel — one of the most obviously perfumed American honeys.
- Persimmon honeyAmberRich and fruity with a dried-date depth and a warm caramel base — one of the more distinctive minor American varietals and genuinely reminiscent of the ripe fruit.
- Messmate honeyAmberStrong and resinous with a malty depth and a faintly medicinal eucalypt lift — assertive and unmistakably Australian.
- Bloodwood honeyAmberStrong and malty with a resinous depth and a distinct woody astringency — one of the more assertive Australian honeys.
- Beech honeydew honeyAmberRich and malty with a resinous depth, a low sweetness and a distinctly savoury mineral finish — a serious honey, and quite unlike anything else New Zealand produces.
Intense — 20 honeys, showing 9
- Himalayan cliff honeyAmberStrong, dark and complex, with a bitter herbal edge and a slightly astringent finish. Spring harvests are frequently sharper and more bitter than autumn ones.
- Tree heath honeyAmberStrong, malty and slightly bitter, with a burnt-caramel depth and a woody finish — assertive in a way that divides opinion sharply.
- Buckwheat honeyDark amberMalt, molasses and wet straw, with a savoury, almost animal depth. The most polarising honey in general production.
- Chestnut honeyAmberAromatic, woody and unmistakably bitter — sweetness first, tannin second, and a long dry finish.
- Heather honeyAmberStrong, smoky and slightly bitter, with a lingering woodfire-and-toffee character. One of the most complex honeys produced anywhere.
- Strawberry tree honeyAmberAggressively bitter — coffee grounds, artichoke and burnt sugar, with the sweetness arriving late and briefly. Nothing in food prepares most people for it.
- Sidr honeyAmberRich, dark and layered — caramel and dried fruit first, then a faintly medicinal bitterness and a long savoury finish. Complex in a way few honeys are.
- Avocado honeyDark amberDark, buttery and molasses-rich with a savoury, almost salty edge. Nothing about it suggests the fruit.
- Oak honeydew honeyDark amberEarthy, salty and barely sweet, with a bitter-mineral depth and a finish more like a stock or a yeast extract than a sweetener.
Deciding between two of them
- Manuka vs ordinary honey — The most expensive honey in the world against a supermarket jar. One difference is real chemistry; most of the rest is not what it is sold as.
- Chestnut vs strawberry tree honey — The two great bitter honeys of Europe. One is widely available and a good introduction; the other is the most bitter honey in production and divides people completely.
- Heather vs manuka honey — The two thixotropic honeys — both form a gel at rest and loosen when stirred. One is priced on a chemical marker and the other on the difficulty of getting it out of the comb.
- Sidr vs ber honey — Two honeys from closely related jujube trees, with a price gap of many times and no laboratory test that separates them. This is the most consequential substitution in the premium honey trade.
- Pine vs fir honeydew honey — The two great conifer honeydews of Europe, from opposite ends of the continent. Both are made by bees collecting insect excretions rather than nectar, and they are the closest thing honey has to terroir.
This is a filter over the 263 honeys in this catalogue, which is a fraction of the hundreds of named honeys produced worldwide — a honey not appearing is not a judgement on it. Sensory fields are editorial assignments rather than measurements, and two people tasting the same jar will not always place it in the same band.
Narrow it further
- Honey finder
Which honey should I buy for what I actually want to do with it?
- Pairing finder
I am eating this — which honey goes with it?
- Flavour selector
I like this taste — which honeys have it?
- Honey comparison
How do these honeys actually differ, beyond colour?