Narbonne rosemary honey

Flavour and aroma

Aroma

rosemary flower, light florals, fresh cream

Flavour

soft herbs, light floral, clean sweetness

Finish

Short and clean.

Flavour character

• Floral and fruity — floral
• Green and herbal — herbaceous

Colour, texture and crystallisation

Colour

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

Near water-white when fresh and brilliant white once set — among the palest honeys produced in Europe.

On setting: Sets to a dense brilliant white.

Texture

Soft set; Crystallised; Creamed; Runny

Crystallisation

Fast, step 4 of 5, from very slow to very fast

Fast — granulates within weeks; sets with a fine crystal.

Sets quickly to a fine dense white grain. It is generally sold set, and a liquid jar late in the year suggests it has been warmed.

Typical composition

Moisture

14–17% (typically 15.5%)

Fructose

35–41% (typically 38%)

Glucose

33–39% (typically 36%)

pH

3.5–4.2 (typically 3.8)

Electrical conductivity

0.1–0.3 mS/cm (typically 0.2 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

Wild rosemary, Rosmarinus officinalis, on the limestone garrigue of the Corbières and the Narbonne coast.

Origins

The Aude and Hérault departments of Languedoc, southern France.

Origin pages

• The Mediterranean

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

Typical harvest

March to May (northern hemisphere)

An early spring flow, one of the first substantial French harvests of the year.

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

The bees

Worked in early spring when colonies are still building, so a good rosemary flow both fills supers and builds the colonies that will take the later crops.

Usual processing

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

Garrigue production is limited by fire and by scrub clearance, and the flow is early enough that a cold March removes it.

What to do with it

A spreading honey above all, and one of the pleasanter pale honeys to eat plain.

SpreadingAt the tableDessertsIn hot drinks

Pairings

• Fresh baguette and butterClassic

  The obvious use and the right one.

• Fresh goat's cheeseClassic

  A Languedoc pairing, both delicate.

• Poached white peaches

  Delicate honey with delicate fruit.

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

Miel de Narbonne was traded across Europe from the medieval period and appears in apothecary records as a named grade. Its reputation for quality preceded any analytical means of assessing it.

• Listed in historic European pharmacopoeias as a distinct article, chiefly for throat and chest complaints.

Traditional use records that people have done something, and for how long. It is not evidence that it works.