Choosing your first honey
Not with the most interesting jar. Start with one honey you will finish and one you will argue with, and buy them at the same time so you have something to compare against.
The rule behind this list
Monofloral honeys of delicate to moderate intensity that the catalogue lists as table honeys — the ones widely available, easy to eat and clear enough in character to learn from.
What these have in common
The mistake almost everybody makes is buying the exotic jar first. A single unfamiliar honey has nothing to be measured against, and if it happens to be chestnut or a honeydew the reaction is usually that honey is not for them. The useful first purchase is a pair: something mild and dependable, and something with an obvious character, so that the difference between them teaches you more than either does alone.
Where to start
A mild monofloral you can find easily — acacia, clover or orange blossom — and then one honey with a clear identity: lavender, heather, buckwheat or a eucalyptus. Taste both off a teaspoon at room temperature, one after the other, and the axis the whole catalogue runs along becomes obvious in about a minute.
What this group is not for
This is not a shopping list of the best honeys — it is a shopping list of the most legible ones. Several honeys in this group are ordinary and cheap, which is exactly why they are useful for calibration.
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.
Delicate — 16 honeys, showing 9
- Acacia honeyWater whiteClean, light and sweet with almost nothing in the way. The honey to reach for when you want sweetness without a flavour opinion.
- Rosemary honeyWater whiteDelicate and softly aromatic — floral first, with a thin thread of resin behind it that tells you where it came from.
- Fireweed honeyWater whiteVery delicate, buttery and faintly tea-like, with a clean finish and almost no aftertaste. A honey that rewards attention and disappears if you are not paying any.
- Borage honeyWater whiteVery light and very clean, with a faint cucumber-fresh note that fades with age. Sweetness without commentary.
- Sulla honeyWater whiteVery delicate and clean, with a soft almond-and-fresh-grass note and almost no aftertaste.
- Apple blossom honeyExtra whiteDelicate and lightly fruity with a soft marzipan note and a clean finish — recognisably spring, and gone if you are not paying attention.
- Asphodel honeyWater whiteDelicate and softly perfumed with a fresh, almost vegetal lift and a silky weight that gives it more presence than the flavour alone would.
- Huajillo honeyWater whiteVery delicate and clean with a light floral sweetness and almost no aftertaste — a honey that stays out of the way.
- Rātā honeyWater whiteVery delicate and creamy with a light butterscotch note and a faint mineral saltiness underneath.
Mild — 65 honeys, showing 9
- Clover honeyExtra whiteWarm, mild and rounded — sweet with a faint cinnamon-and-hay note underneath. The taste most English-speaking readers picture when they read the word honey.
- Rapeseed honeyWater whiteVery sweet, very mild, faintly cabbage-like when fresh and cleanly bland once set. Texture is what it has instead of flavour.
- Tupelo honeyExtra whiteButtery and clean with a pear-and-green-apple lift, and a long soft finish that never turns cloying.
- Sage honeyWater whiteMild, clean and slightly herbal, with a heavy silky body that is more of the experience than the flavour is.
- Raspberry honeyExtra whiteDelicate and lightly fruity with a clean bright acidity — one of the few honeys where a taster unprompted names the right fruit.
- Sainfoin honeyExtra whiteDelicate and softly floral with a distinct rose-and-hay note, and a thickness that gives it more presence than its flavour alone would.
- Gallberry honeyExtra light amberMild and clean with a soft floral warmth and a faint bitterness on the finish that the name hints at without quite delivering.
- Pōhutukawa honeyWater whiteMild and creamy with a faint salt-and-mineral edge from the coast, and a butterscotch note that emerges as it warms on the tongue.
- Phacelia honeyWater whiteMild, clean and gently floral with a faint herbal freshness — an easy honey with no rough edges at all.
Moderate — 49 honeys, showing 9
- Orange blossom honeyExtra whiteUnmistakably floral and citrus-scented — orange blossom in the glass, with the fruit itself somewhere behind it.
- Meadowfoam honeyExtra whiteToasted marshmallow and vanilla, unmistakably. The one honey most people identify blind on the first spoonful, because it tastes like something they already know.
- Cherry blossom honeyExtra whiteMarzipan first, then a light stone-fruit sweetness — the almond note is the defining character and it is unmistakable.
- Lemon blossom honeyWater whiteBright, sharply citrus and clean — lemon zest and blossom rather than the softer neroli of orange blossom, with a genuine acidity behind it.
- Ironbark honeyExtra light amberRich, buttery and dense with a warm caramel depth and a clean eucalypt lift at the end.
- Black mangrove honeyExtra light amberLight and clean with a distinct saline-mineral edge and a faint smoky note — the salinity is genuine and reflects the tidal ground the trees grow in.
- Brazilian pepper honeyLight amberWarm and peppery with a distinct resinous spice and a faint tartness — genuinely reminiscent of the pink peppercorns the plant produces.
- 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.
Deciding between two of them
- Acacia vs clover honey — The two default mild honeys. They taste more alike than they behave, and the practical difference is texture rather than flavour.
- Tupelo vs acacia honey — The two honeys that genuinely do not crystallise, from opposite sides of the Atlantic. Same chemistry, very different flavour, and a very different price.
- Acacia vs linden honey — Both are pale central European tree honeys with short intense flows. One tastes of almost nothing and the other is among the most aromatic honeys there is.
- Clover vs alfalfa honey — The two great mild legume honeys of North America and northern Europe. They are genuinely similar, and the differences are small enough to be worth stating precisely.
- Orange vs lemon blossom honey — Two citrus honeys from the same orchards, and the difference is sharper than the shared category suggests: one is perfumed and the other is bright.
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?