Cranberry honey

Flavour and aroma

Aroma

cranberry, red fruit, green leaf, light caramel

Flavour

tart red fruit, a bright acidity, light caramel, a dry finish

Finish

Bright, tart and drying.

Intensity

Moderate

Sweetness

Moderately sweet

Bitterness

Trace

Acidity

Bright

Colour, texture and crystallisation

Colour

Light amber (50-85 mm Pfund)toAmber (85-114 mm Pfund)

Amber with a distinct reddish cast.

On setting: Sets to an opaque reddish tan.

Texture

Runny; Thick but pourable; Soft set

Crystallisation

Moderate — granulates over a few months

Granulates over a few months to a medium grain.

Typical composition

Moisture

16–19.5% (typically 17.8%)

Fructose

38–43% (typically 40%)

Glucose

30–35% (typically 32.5%)

Glucose-to-fructose ratio

0.74–0.92 (typically 0.82)

pH

3.4–4.2 (typically 3.7)

Electrical conductivity

0.2–0.5 mS/cm (typically 0.33 mS/cm)

These are typical ranges assembled across published work, not measurements of a specific honey. Lower pH than most floral honeys, consistent with the tartness on the palate.

What these mean: the sugars and the ratio · moisture · conductivity · how each is measured

Where it comes from

Floral source

Vaccinium macrocarpon, in the heather family alongside blueberry, heather and sourwood. The flower's reflexed petals were thought to resemble a crane's head, which is where the name comes from.

Origins

Massachusetts, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Oregon and Washington; Quebec and British Columbia in Canada.

Origin pages

• North America
• United States
• Canada
• Pacific Northwest

Resolved from both directions — origins this honey names, and origins that name it.

Harvest

June to July (northern hemisphere)

Two to three weeks, and a poor nectar producer relative to the hive numbers brought in — much of what is collected is consumed by the colonies themselves.

The bees

Cranberry flowers release pollen best under buzz pollination, which honey bees cannot perform. Bumblebees can, and growers increasingly use them alongside contracted honey bee hives. Honey bees also find cranberry relatively unattractive and will abandon a bog for almost any competing bloom, so growers stock at high density to compensate.

Usual processing

Spun (centrifugally extracted), Coarsely strained, Filtered, Raw

Cranberry bogs are flooded for harvest and heavily managed, and the honey is a marginal return on a pollination contract rather than a crop in its own right — which is why it is scarce despite the acreage.

What to do with it

Its acidity makes it genuinely useful in dressings and glazes, where most honeys simply add sweetness. Excellent with poultry and game for the same reason cranberry sauce is.

At the tableDressingsGlazing and roastingWith cheeseDessertsSauces

Pairings

• Turkey, duck and gameClassic

  The traditional cranberry role, in honey form — acid and fruit against rich meat.

• Sharp goat cheese

  Acid meets acid, and neither has to be softened.

• Vinaigrettes

  One of the few honeys that contributes acidity as well as sweetness to a dressing.