Mango blossom honey

Flavour and aroma

Aroma

mango skin, tropical fruit, light resin, warm florals

Flavour

stone fruit, light resin, caramel, faint tartness

Finish

Medium and fruity.

Flavour character

• Floral and fruity — fruity, floral
• Woody and resinous — resinous

Colour, texture and crystallisation

Colour

1. Water white0–8 mm
2. Extra white8–17 mm
3. White17–34 mm
4. Extra light amber34–50 mm
5. Light amber50–85 mm — this honey
6. Amber85–114 mm — this honey
7. Dark amber114+ mm

Golden to warm amber.

On setting: Sets slowly to a fine pale grain.

Texture

Runny; Thick but pourable; Soft set

Crystallisation

Slow, step 2 of 5, from very slow to very fast

Slow — months before it starts to granulate; sets with a fine crystal.

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

• India
• Pakistan
• Bangladesh
• Thailand
• Philippines

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

Typical harvest

January to April (northern hemisphere)

A dry-season flow before the monsoon, and one of the first substantial Indian crops of the year.

A typical window for the honey type, HoneyHQ synthesis — not a calendar for any one place.

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.

Similar honeys and substitutes

Three different questions with different answers: a honey that tastes alike can behave differently in a recipe, and the same set texture says nothing about flavour. Each list is chosen from the recorded fields that matter to its question — and, where tasting panels or specifications described both honeys, the terms they share — and every suggestion says which, and what will be different. Compare it side by side or build a tasting flight.

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.