Nectar

Definition

Typically 5-50% sugar in water, secreted by nectaries usually at the base of a flower. It is a plant's payment for pollination, and its concentration, composition and timing are all under the plant's control. Bees must remove most of the water and convert most of the sucrose before it becomes honey — which is why a colony may need to process several litres of nectar to make a jar.

Honey records that discuss this

• Clover honeyWarm, 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.
• Lavender honeyOvertly perfumed — lavender flower, warm hay and a soft fruity sweetness underneath. Aromatic in a way most honeys are not.
• Fireweed honeyVery 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 honeyVery light and very clean, with a faint cucumber-fresh note that fades with age. Sweetness without commentary.
• Ivy honeyStrong, faintly bitter and distinctly herbal — closer to a dark honey in character than its pale colour suggests.
• Raspberry honeyDelicate and lightly fruity with a clean bright acidity — one of the few honeys where a taster unprompted names the right fruit.
• Sainfoin honeyDelicate and softly floral with a distinct rose-and-hay note, and a thickness that gives it more presence than its flavour alone would.
• Pōhutukawa honeyMild and creamy with a faint salt-and-mineral edge from the coast, and a butterscotch note that emerges as it warms on the tongue.
• Cherry blossom honeyMarzipan first, then a light stone-fruit sweetness — the almond note is the defining character and it is unmistakable.
• Phacelia honeyMild, clean and gently floral with a faint herbal freshness — an easy honey with no rough edges at all.
• Marri honeyMild, sweet and buttery with a soft caramel warmth and only the faintest eucalypt lift.
• Ironbark honeyRich, buttery and dense with a warm caramel depth and a clean eucalypt lift at the end.