Mango blossom honey
Warm and fruity with a distinct tropical-stone-fruit note and a faint resinous edge — one of the honeys that does taste recognisably of its tree's fruit, though more faintly than people expect.
आम का शहद
A honey from mango orchards across India and Southeast Asia, taken in the dry season when the trees carry enormous panicles of small pinkish flowers. Mango is fly-pollinated as much as bee-pollinated and sets fruit from a tiny fraction of its flowers, so the relationship is lopsided: the bees take a great deal and the grower gains relatively little.
Flavour and aroma
- Aroma
- mango skin, tropical fruit, light resin, warm florals
- Flavour
- stone fruit, light resin, caramel, faint tartness
- Finish
- Medium and fruity.
- Intensity
- Moderate
- Sweetness
- Sweet
- Bitterness
- None
- Acidity
- Moderate
Colour, texture and crystallisation
- Colour
- Light amber (50-85 mm Pfund)Amber (85-114 mm Pfund)
Golden to warm amber.
On setting: Sets slowly to a fine pale grain.
- Texture
- Runny; Thick but pourable; Soft set
- Crystallisation
Slow — months before it starts to granulate
Slow to set, which suits an Indian market that expects honey liquid.
Typical composition
- Moisture
- 17–21% (typically 19%)
- Fructose
- 37–42% (typically 39%)
- Glucose
- 28–34% (typically 31%)
- pH
- 3.5–4.4 (typically 3.9)
- Electrical conductivity
- 0.2–0.7 mS/cm (typically 0.4 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
- Mangifera indica, grown in orchards across the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and the tropics generally.
- Origins
- India principally — Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra — and Bangladesh, Pakistan, Thailand and the Philippines.
- Origin pages
Resolved from both directions — origins this honey names, and origins that name it.
- Harvest
- January to April (northern hemisphere)
A dry-season flow before the monsoon, and one of the first substantial Indian crops of the year.
- The bees
- Mango is visited by flies, thrips, wasps and bees, and flies are frequently the more effective pollinators. A mango tree may carry several hundred thousand flowers and set a few dozen fruit, so pollination is abundant relative to what the tree needs.
- Usual processing
- Raw, Coarsely strained, Spun (centrifugally extracted), Filtered
Orchard insecticide programmes during flowering are the principal risk to colonies. Where mango is managed with integrated pest control the crop is substantial.
What to do with it
Its fruitiness makes it good on yoghurt and in dressings, and it is one of the more approachable Indian monoflorals for an unfamiliar palate.
At the tableDessertsIn hot drinksDressingsSpreading
Pairings
- Fresh mango and tropical fruitClassic
The obvious pairing and it works.
- Plain yoghurt and lassiClassic
Fruit honey on a sour base.
- Fresh cheeses
Mild and fruity against mild and lactic.
Pairing pages this honey appears on
Selected by this honey’s own recorded intensity, flavour families and uses rather than by anything written above — each page prints the rule that put it there.
Where this honey sits in the catalogue
History and traditional use
Mango has been cultivated in India for four thousand years and holds a place in Hindu ritual and in Indian literature far beyond its economic value. The honey is a modest by-product of an enormous crop.
Sources
- HoneyHQ editorial synthesis — HEKNO Ltd · HoneyHQ synthesis
- Analytical approaches to honey authentication — Peer-reviewed food-analysis literature · Peer-reviewed article
How sources are selected and weighted is set out in the sources and evidence policy.
Guides that cover this honey
Tools for choosing and using honey
- 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?