Nutty honey
Almond, toasted seed and marzipan notes. A small family and a consistently likeable one.
23 honeys · flavour family
Honeys in this group
- Sulla honeyWater white · DelicateVery delicate and clean, with a soft almond-and-fresh-grass note and almost no aftertaste.
- 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.
- Almond blossom honeyLight amber · PronouncedDistinctly bitter with a marzipan aroma over it — one of the few honeys where bitterness arrives before sweetness, and an acquired taste even among people who like bitter honeys.
- Prickly box honeyExtra light amber · MildMild and clean with a soft floral sweetness and a faint honeyed-almond note — pleasant and considerably gentler than leatherwood.
- Tree lucerne honeyExtra light amber · MildMild and clean with a soft floral sweetness and a faint nutty note — pleasant, undemanding and mostly eaten by bees rather than people.
- Macadamia honeyAmber · PronouncedMalty and nutty with a roasted depth and a butterscotch base — one of the few honeys that genuinely tastes like the crop it came from.
- Hawthorn honeyLight amber · PronouncedStrong and slightly strange — marzipan and cut hay over a distinctly animal undertone that divides people sharply.
- 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.
- Chestnut honeyAmber · IntenseAromatic, woody and unmistakably bitter — sweetness first, tannin second, and a long dry finish.
- Loquat honeyAmber · PronouncedRich and malty with a distinct almond-marzipan note over dark caramel — one of the more aromatic East Asian honeys and far stronger than its pale-fruited source suggests.
- Chiuri honeyAmber · ModerateRich and slightly smoky with a nutty depth and a warm caramel base — one of the more distinctive Nepali honeys and considerably less known than the cliff honey.
- Sesame honeyExtra light amber · MildMild and clean with a distinct toasted-nut note and a light caramel base — the nutty character is genuine rather than suggested by the name.
- Shea honeyLight amber · ModerateWarm and buttery with a nutty depth and a light caramel base — a rounded, approachable honey with a distinct richness.
- Argan honeyLight amber · ModerateWarm and nutty with a distinct roasted note and a light resinous edge — genuinely reminiscent of the oil, which is a rare coincidence between a honey and its tree's other product.
- 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.
- Rowan honeyLight amber · ModerateAmber, tart and faintly bitter, with a red-fruit note that echoes the berries the tree is better known for.
- Plum blossom honeyExtra white · MildLight, sweet and gently almondy, with a soft fruit note behind it. An easy honey and a short-lived one.
- Cardoon honeyLight amber · PronouncedSavoury and faintly bitter, with a warm caramel body and an unmistakable green-vegetable note that is genuinely artichoke-like.
- Babul honeyLight amber · ModerateWarm, nutty and full-bodied with a faint tannic dryness. A robust everyday honey rather than a delicate one.
- Coconut blossom honeyExtra white · MildLight, clean and mildly waxy with a faint nuttiness. It tastes nothing like coconut, which surprises almost everyone.
- Sweet thorn honeyExtra light amber · MildSoft, floral and clean, with a faint almond note carried over from the flower's own scent. An easy honey and a very well-made one at its best.
- Safflower honeyExtra light amber · MildLight amber and mildly nutty, with a faint thistle bitterness at the finish. Unassertive and rather more interesting than most crop honeys.
Plants behind these honeys
- BroomCytisus scopariusZero nectar and very high pollen — one of the small group of plants including poppy, hazel and gorse that make the case for separate ratings unanswerable.
- AppleMalus domesticaValuable spring forage, but rarely a surplus crop: the window is short and the colony is still building at that point in the year, so most of what comes in is eaten immediately.
- Crab appleMalus sylvestrisExcellent spring pollen and good nectar. Its particular value is the length of the flowering window relative to a cultivated apple.
- CherryPrunus aviumImportant early forage arriving when colonies are expanding and bumblebee queens are founding nests. Almost all of it is consumed rather than stored.
- AlmondPrunus dulcisTop-rated for both, at the single most valuable moment of the year for a colony coming out of winter. That is precisely why the pollination market exists.
- Prickly boxBursaria spinosaAn excellent summer nectar and pollen source, and among the most heavily visited plants in southeastern Australia.
- AlfalfaMedicago sativaExcellent forage on paper, and the tripping mechanism complicates it in practice: a honey bee robbing nectar from the side of the flower collects no pollen and delivers none.
- MacadamiaMacadamia integrifoliaA good nectar and pollen source over a defined spring window.
Guides covering these honeys
- Why honeys taste and look so differentEvery honey is around 80% sugar. Everything that distinguishes one from another lives in the remaining fifth.
- What makes a honey strongStrong honeys are dark, mineral-rich and usually lower in sweetness than pale ones. Understanding which axis a honey is strong on tells you what to do with it.
- Which flowers make honeyBeing good for bees and producing a honey crop are different things. A honey crop needs a plant that flowers in enormous quantity, in one place, at one time — which most good bee plants do not.
- Why flowering seasons matterBees and flowers have to be in the same place at the same time. That synchrony is being pulled apart by warming, and for specialist bees with narrow windows it is a serious problem.
- Spring plants for beesSpring forage decides how many colonies exist by summer. A bumblebee queen who cannot find pollen in March does not found a colony, and a honey bee colony without early pollen cannot build.
- Cooking and baking with honeyHoney is not a drop-in replacement for sugar. It is sweeter, it brings water, it is acidic, and it browns earlier — four differences, each with a specific consequence.
Other flavour family groups
Narrow it down further
- Honey finder
Which honey should I buy for what I actually want to do with it?
- Flavour selector
I like this taste — which honeys have it?
- Honey comparison
How do these honeys actually differ, beyond colour?
- Honey substitute calculator
How much honey do I use instead of sugar, and what else has to change?
- Storage guide
How should I store honey, and what do I do when it sets?