Choosing honey as a gift
The interesting jar is a bad present for somebody whose tastes you do not know. Distinctive but not difficult is the target, and it is narrower than it sounds.
The rule behind this list
Monofloral honeys of mild to pronounced intensity with no more than a trace of bitterness, listed as table honeys — distinctive without being difficult.
What these have in common
A gift honey has to survive being opened by somebody with no context. That rules out the bitter and savoury end — chestnut and honeydew are genuinely wonderful and are frequently received as faulty — and it rules out the very mild end, which reads as an ordinary supermarket jar however much it cost. What is left is the honeys with a clear identity and no difficulty: aromatic florals, the warmer ambers, and the ones with a story attached to the place they come from.
Where to start
Lavender, orange blossom, lime blossom or a good local wildflower. If the recipient cooks, a jar of something dark with a note explaining that it is for baking rather than for toast turns a present into a small piece of teaching.
What this group is not for
Anything requiring explanation to be enjoyed. If a honey needs a paragraph before the first spoonful, give it to somebody who already likes honey.
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.
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 — 47 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.
Pronounced — 54 honeys, showing 9
- Lavender honeyExtra light amberOvertly perfumed — lavender flower, warm hay and a soft fruity sweetness underneath. Aromatic in a way most honeys are not.
- Ulmo honeyExtra whiteStrongly perfumed — jasmine and orange blossom over butterscotch, with a creamy weight that carries it. Aromatic in a way very few honeys are.
- Basswood honeyWater whiteIntensely aromatic with a mentholated, faintly medicinal lift over a clean sweetness — one of the most distinctive American honeys and among the most divisive.
- 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.
- 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.
- Bottlebrush honeyAmberStrong and malty with a resinous depth and a faint medicinal lift — assertive, and a surprise to anyone who expects a garden shrub to make a mild honey.
Deciding between two of them
- Lavender vs orange blossom honey — The two great perfumed honeys of the Mediterranean. Both carry their flower's aromatics almost intact, which is rare — and they are wanted for opposite reasons.
- 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.
- Sourwood vs tupelo honey — The two most prized honeys of the American south. Tupelo is famous for never setting; sourwood is famous for its aroma, and both are scarce for reasons of geography.
- Lavender vs thyme honey — Two Mediterranean aromatic honeys that end up in the same conversation and belong at different ends of a meal.
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?