Extra white honey
Barely tinted. Mild, clean and frequently sold set, because several of the palest honeys are also the fastest to crystallise.
71 honeys · colour
Honeys in this group
- Acacia honeyWater white · DelicateClean, light and sweet with almost nothing in the way. The honey to reach for when you want sweetness without a flavour opinion.
- Clover honeyExtra white · MildWarm, 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.
- Rosemary honeyWater white · DelicateDelicate and softly aromatic — floral first, with a thin thread of resin behind it that tells you where it came from.
- Orange blossom honeyExtra white · ModerateUnmistakably floral and citrus-scented — orange blossom in the glass, with the fruit itself somewhere behind it.
- Rapeseed honeyWater white · MildVery sweet, very mild, faintly cabbage-like when fresh and cleanly bland once set. Texture is what it has instead of flavour.
- Tupelo honeyExtra white · MildButtery and clean with a pear-and-green-apple lift, and a long soft finish that never turns cloying.
- Fireweed honeyWater white · DelicateVery 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 white · DelicateVery light and very clean, with a faint cucumber-fresh note that fades with age. Sweetness without commentary.
- Meadowfoam honeyExtra white · ModerateToasted marshmallow and vanilla, unmistakably. The one honey most people identify blind on the first spoonful, because it tastes like something they already know.
- Ivy honeyExtra white · PronouncedStrong, faintly bitter and distinctly herbal — closer to a dark honey in character than its pale colour suggests.
- Sage honeyWater white · MildMild, clean and slightly herbal, with a heavy silky body that is more of the experience than the flavour is.
- Raspberry honeyExtra white · MildDelicate and lightly fruity with a clean bright acidity — one of the few honeys where a taster unprompted names the right fruit.
- Sulla honeyWater white · DelicateVery delicate and clean, with a soft almond-and-fresh-grass note and almost no aftertaste.
- Sainfoin honeyExtra white · MildDelicate and softly floral with a distinct rose-and-hay note, and a thickness that gives it more presence than its flavour alone would.
- Pōhutukawa honeyWater white · MildMild and creamy with a faint salt-and-mineral edge from the coast, and a butterscotch note that emerges as it warms on the tongue.
- Ulmo honeyExtra white · PronouncedStrongly perfumed — jasmine and orange blossom over butterscotch, with a creamy weight that carries it. Aromatic in a way very few honeys are.
- Apple blossom honeyExtra white · DelicateDelicate and lightly fruity with a soft marzipan note and a clean finish — recognisably spring, and gone if you are not paying attention.
- Cherry blossom honeyExtra white · ModerateMarzipan first, then a light stone-fruit sweetness — the almond note is the defining character and it is unmistakable.
- Phacelia honeyWater white · MildMild, clean and gently floral with a faint herbal freshness — an easy honey with no rough edges at all.
- Asphodel honeyWater white · DelicateDelicate and softly perfumed with a fresh, almost vegetal lift and a silky weight that gives it more presence than the flavour alone would.
- Lemon blossom honeyWater white · ModerateBright, sharply citrus and clean — lemon zest and blossom rather than the softer neroli of orange blossom, with a genuine acidity behind it.
- Huajillo honeyWater white · DelicateVery delicate and clean with a light floral sweetness and almost no aftertaste — a honey that stays out of the way.
- Sweet clover honeyExtra white · MildWarm, sweet and hay-like with a soft vanilla note that is genuinely there rather than imagined — the clearest coumarin character of any common honey.
- Vitex honeyWater white · MildVery clean and mild with a light floral sweetness and a faint fresh herbal lift on the finish.
- Milk vetch honeyWater white · MildSoft, mild and slightly floral with a faint green-bean freshness — an unassuming honey made in enormous quantity.
- Rātā honeyWater white · DelicateVery delicate and creamy with a light butterscotch note and a faint mineral saltiness underneath.
- Ethiopian white honeyWater white · MildClean, sweet and faintly herbal, with a smooth dense texture that dominates the impression more than the flavour does.
- Basswood honeyWater white · PronouncedIntensely aromatic with a mentholated, faintly medicinal lift over a clean sweetness — one of the most distinctive American honeys and among the most divisive.
- Ceanothus honeyWater white · MildDelicate and clean with a light floral sweetness and a faint spicy edge — mild, and rather more interesting than a pale honey usually is.
- Blue curls honeyWater white · DelicateExtremely delicate with a clean sweetness and a faint herbal lift — one of the mildest honeys there is, and prized for exactly that.
- Catclaw honeyWater white · MildDelicate and floral with a light sweetness and a faint spicy warmth — one of the gentler American varietals and quite distinct from the darker mesquite honey of the same country.
- Dzidzilché honeyWater white · MildDelicate and clean with a distinct light floral perfume and a faint citrus lift — refined in a way that most tropical honeys are not.
- Snowberry honeyExtra white · MildMild and clean with a soft floral sweetness and a faint green note — pleasant and unassertive.
- Linden honeyExtra white · ModerateFresh and cooling — mint, balsam and lime blossom, with a clean herbal sharpness no other pale honey has.
- Wildflower honeyExtra white · ModerateVaries with the season and the landscape. Pale spring crops are floral and light; late-summer crops darker, fruitier and stronger.
- Alfalfa honeyExtra white · MildMild, clean and slightly grassy, with a beeswax note and very little else. A background honey, and good at being one.
- Mesquite honeyExtra white · MildMild and smooth with a faint smoky-molasses note that arrives after the sweetness rather than with it.
- Yellow box honeyExtra white · MildMild, smooth and lightly floral with a buttery weight and a faint eucalypt lift at the very end.
- Mustard honeyExtra white · MildVery sweet and very mild with a faint pungent brassica note when fresh, fading to clean blandness as it ages and sets.
- Blue borage honeyExtra white · MildClean, delicate and softly floral, with a thick smooth body that gives it more weight than its flavour would suggest.
- Cotton honeyExtra white · MildMild and clean with a faint green-vegetal note and very little else — a background honey.
- Kiawe honeyWater white · DelicateVery mild, clean and faintly vanilla-like, with a texture that does most of the work — smooth, buttery and dissolving rather than sticky.
- Ohia lehua honeyWater white · DelicateDelicate and clean with a distinct fresh-butter quality and a light floral lift — one of the mildest honeys with genuine character rather than none.
- Tawari honeyExtra white · DelicateVery delicate, with a distinctive butterscotch note over a clean light sweetness — mild without being characterless, which is a difficult combination.
- Bashkir linden honeyWater white · PronouncedIntensely aromatic with the mentholated, faintly medicinal lift characteristic of lime, over a clean sweetness — more perfumed than most people expect from so pale a honey.
- Alcarria honeyWater white · ModerateDelicate and aromatic, with a clean herbal sweetness — the rosemary type is softer and more floral, the lavender type more perfumed and slightly camphoraceous.
- Lingonberry honeyExtra white · MildDelicate and clean with a distinct tart berry note and a fresh acidity — one of the few honeys that genuinely tastes of the fruit its plant produces.
- Dalmatian sage honeyWater white · MildDelicate and clean with a faintly medicinal sage note and a light herbal finish — subtle in a way that rewards eating it plain.
- Tajinaste honeyWater white · DelicateDelicate and clean with a light floral sweetness and a faint mineral edge from the volcanic ground — subtle rather than characterful.
- Retama honeyExtra white · MildDelicate and floral with a distinct honeyed-almond sweetness and a clean finish — one of the gentler European honeys, and unusually consistent.
- Field bean honeyExtra white · MildMild and clean with a faint green-bean vegetal note under a soft sweetness — pleasant and undemanding rather than distinctive.
- Narbonne rosemary honeyWater white · DelicateDelicate and clean with a soft herbal floral note and a texture that does much of the work — one of the classic pale European honeys.
- Mikan honeyExtra white · MildDelicate and bright with a pronounced fresh citrus-blossom aroma and a clean acidity — lighter and fresher than Mediterranean orange blossom honey.
- Ak balWater white · MildMild, creamy and delicately floral with a faint herbal lift — the texture is much of the appeal, dense and smooth and dissolving rather than sticky.
- Oku white honeyExtra white · MildDelicate and creamy with a light floral character and a faint herbal lift — mild by African standards and distinctly refined.
- Berseem honeyExtra white · MildMild and clean with a soft floral sweetness and a faint hay note — the archetype of an unassuming everyday honey.
- Willow honeyExtra white · MildMild, faintly green and quick to set. A spring honey in the literal sense, and one most beekeepers taste and few buyers ever see.
- Blackthorn honeyExtra white · MildDelicate, almondy and fleeting. Recognisably a Prunus honey, and the closest thing in the European catalogue to the taste of a hedge in March.
- Pear blossom honeyWater white · DelicateVery light and faintly green, with a clean sweetness and almost nothing behind it. Notable chiefly for how hard it is to get.
- Plum blossom honeyExtra white · MildLight, sweet and gently almondy, with a soft fruit note behind it. An easy honey and a short-lived one.
- Spring blossom honeyExtra white · MildMild, creamy and clean, with a faint cabbagey note where rape dominates. An easy honey and a spreadable one.
- Oil-tea camellia honeyWater white · ModeratePale, thin and distinctly bitter, with an astringent tea-like finish. Not a beginner's honey and not really a pleasure honey.
- Pagoda tree honeyExtra white · MildLight, clean and gently floral with a faint green edge — an unassertive honey produced in very large quantities.
- Coconut blossom honeyExtra white · MildLight, clean and mildly waxy with a faint nuttiness. It tastes nothing like coconut, which surprises almost everyone.
- Soybean honeyWater white · MildVery pale and very mild, with a clean light sweetness and almost nothing to distinguish it. Its virtue is neutrality.
- Milkweed honeyWater white · MildExceptionally perfumed for such a pale honey — a clean floral sweetness with an almost tropical lift. Regarded as a delicacy where it can be produced in quantity.
- Manzanita honeyExtra white · MildDelicate and faintly spicy, with a clean short finish. Interesting mostly for when it is made rather than for how it tastes.
- Prairie honeyWater white · MildClean, mild and creamy, with a light floral sweetness. The reference point for what a great many people think honey tastes like.
- Xtabentún honeyExtra white · ModeratePale, aromatic and faintly aniseed, with a clean floral lift. The liqueur made from it leans directly on that anise note.
- Five finger honeyExtra white · MildMild, faintly green and slightly waxy, setting hard and pale. A working honey rather than a prestige one.
- Towai honeyWater white · MildVery pale and delicate with a faint butterscotch sweetness — noticeably lighter and milder than kamahi from the same genus.
Plants behind these honeys
- White cloverTrifolium repensOne of the very few plants that is both a top-tier nectar source and a substantial pollen source, over a long season, at landscape scale.
- MesquiteProsopisA principal desert forage plant, providing both nectar and pollen in landscapes with very few alternatives.
- ThymeThymus
- RosemarySalvia rosmarinusThe timing is what makes it exceptional rather than the volume. A high-value plant in March is worth far more to bees than a better plant in July, when everything is flowering.
- LemonCitrus limonExcellent nectar over an unusually long and repeated window, and only a moderate pollen contribution.
- Oilseed rapeBrassica napusTop-rated for both nectar and pollen, and delivered at exactly the moment colonies are expanding fastest in spring. Its faults are entirely about what comes after.
- Black sageSalvia melliferaAn outstanding nectar source in a good year, and the backbone of the chaparral forage sequence.
- SainfoinOnobrychis viciifoliaAn outstanding forage plant on both counts, and one of the few that performs in a dry summer when white clover has stopped.
Guides covering these honeys
- Why honey crystallisesGranulation is not spoilage, not a sign of adulteration, and not evidence that honey is raw. It is glucose doing what glucose does — and the rate is predictable from the sugar ratio.
- Why honeys taste and look so differentEvery honey is around 80% sugar. Everything that distinguishes one from another lives in the remaining fifth.
- Honey authenticity, adulteration and testingHoney is among the most adulterated foods in world trade. The tests are good, the evasions are better funded, and almost every home test circulating online does not work.
- Raw, filtered and processed honeyWhat actually happens between the hive and the jar, which of it changes the honey, and why the word 'raw' carries less information than it appears to.
- Creamed, set and whipped honeyCreamed honey has nothing added and nothing whipped into it. It is ordinary honey whose crystallisation has been controlled instead of left to chance, and the technique is a hundred years old.
- Why honey comes in different coloursHoney runs from nearly colourless to almost black, and the colour is set mainly by the plant. It correlates loosely with intensity, more strongly with mineral content, and not at all with quality.
Other colour groups
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