Field bean honey

Flavour and aroma

Aroma

light florals, fresh hay, faint green stem

Flavour

mild floral, light vegetal, soft caramel once set

Finish

Short and clean.

Intensity

Mild

Sweetness

Sweet

Bitterness

None

Acidity

Moderate

Colour, texture and crystallisation

Colour

Extra white (8-17 mm Pfund)toWhite (17-34 mm Pfund)toExtra light amber (34-50 mm Pfund)

Pale straw to light gold, clear when fresh.

On setting: Sets to an opaque near-white.

Texture

Soft set; Crystallised; Creamed; Runny

Crystallisation

Fast — granulates within weeks

Sets quickly to a fine even grain, which makes it a natural creaming honey and a poor one to sell liquid.

Typical composition

Moisture

15–18.5% (typically 17%)

Fructose

35–40% (typically 37%)

Glucose

33–39% (typically 36%)

pH

3.6–4.4 (typically 4)

Electrical conductivity

0.2–0.5 mS/cm (typically 0.3 mS/cm)

These are typical ranges assembled across published work, not measurements of a specific honey.

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

Where it comes from

Floral source

Vicia faba, field bean, grown at arable scale for animal feed and human consumption.

Origins

Britain, France, Germany, Poland, the Baltic states and increasingly across northern European arable rotations.

Origin pages

• United Kingdom
• Germany
• Poland

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

Harvest

May to July (northern hemisphere)

Autumn-sown crops flower from May, spring-sown from June.

The bees

The bean flower is deep enough to require a long tongue. Long-tongued bumblebees enter properly and pollinate it; short-tongued species bite a hole at the base and rob it; honey bees then use the holes. A bean field is one of the best places to watch nectar robbing, and it means honey bee visitation does not translate straightforwardly into pollination.

Usual processing

Spun (centrifugally extracted), Creamed (seeded and controlled-set), Coarsely strained, Filtered

Frequently mixed into general spring honey rather than separated. Because it sets fast it must be extracted promptly, which is the main practical constraint.

What to do with it

A good everyday spreading honey once set, and a reasonable baking honey. It has no character that needs accommodating.

SpreadingBakingAt the table

Pairings

• Toast and crumpets

  An unassuming honey on an unassuming base.

• Fresh cow's milk cheeses

  Both mild.

History and traditional use

Field beans are among the oldest cultivated legumes in Europe and have been part of arable rotations for millennia. Their honey has never been prized and has always been taken.