Pollen analysis

Definition

Honey carries pollen grains picked up incidentally during nectar collection. Identifying and counting them indicates which plants the bees worked and, by extension, roughly where. It is the traditional basis of monofloral verification.

Where the word gets used loosely

Not a straightforward count. Some plants are heavily over-represented relative to their nectar contribution — chestnut, forget-me-not — and others badly under-represented, notably acacia, citrus and lavender. A raw percentage without species-specific correction misleads in both directions, and ultrafiltration defeats the method entirely.

Honey records that discuss this

• Ceanothus honeyDelicate and clean with a light floral sweetness and a faint spicy edge — mild, and rather more interesting than a pale honey usually is.
• Dzidzilché honeyDelicate and clean with a distinct light floral perfume and a faint citrus lift — refined in a way that most tropical honeys are not.
• Messmate honeyStrong and resinous with a malty depth and a faintly medicinal eucalypt lift — assertive and unmistakably Australian.
• Blackbutt honeyWarm and caramelised with a light resinous edge — one of the milder eucalypt honeys and a good introduction to the group.
• Grey box honeyClean and lightly caramelised with a faint buttery quality — mild for a eucalypt honey and highly regarded for its density and smoothness.
• Yapunyah honeyMild and buttery with a light caramel sweetness and a clean finish — smooth in a way that people notice before they notice the flavour.
• Bloodwood honeyStrong and malty with a resinous depth and a distinct woody astringency — one of the more assertive Australian honeys.
• Spotted gum honeyWarm and caramelised with a light resinous lift and a rounded finish — a middle-weight eucalypt honey and a very usable one.
• White box honeyClean and lightly caramelised with a faint buttery smoothness — mild, dense and highly regarded within Australia.
• New Zealand bush honeyWarm 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.
• Oregano honeyIntensely herbal and warm, with an oregano-and-thyme aromatic over a caramel base and a dry, faintly medicinal finish.
• Alpine meadow honeyComplex and aromatic, with a herbal lift over warm caramel and a distinctly clean finish — the flavour of a great many plants rather than of any one.