Central Otago thyme honey

Flavour and aroma

Aroma

wild thyme, warm herbs, dried flowers, light resin

Flavour

thyme, herbs, caramel, light resin

Finish

Long, herbal and savoury.

Flavour character

• Green and herbal — herbaceous
• Warm and cooked — caramel
• 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

Warm golden amber, clear and bright.

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 with a fine grain, as with the Mediterranean thyme honeys.

Typical composition

Moisture

14–18% (typically 16%)

Fructose

37–43% (typically 40%)

Glucose

28–34% (typically 31%)

pH

3.5–4.3 (typically 3.9)

Electrical conductivity

0.2–0.6 mS/cm (typically 0.35 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

Thymus vulgaris, common thyme, naturalised across the semi-arid schist hills of Central Otago.

Origins

Central Otago, South Island, New Zealand — principally around Alexandra, Clyde and the Cromwell basin.

Origin pages

• South Island, New Zealand

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

Typical harvest

November to January (southern hemisphere)

A short early summer flow on the dry hills.

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

The bees

Bumblebees, introduced to New Zealand in the 1880s to pollinate red clover, work the thyme heavily alongside honey bees — two introduced bee groups on an introduced plant in a landscape whose native flora was largely displaced by gold mining.

Usual processing

Raw, Coarsely strained, Spun (centrifugally extracted)

Wild thyme is regarded as a weed by conservation managers in Central Otago, since it displaces native dryland vegetation. It also produces one of New Zealand's most distinctive honeys.

What to do with it

A savoury honey. It belongs with cheese and roast meat and is wasted in a mild tea.

At the tableWith cheeseGlazing and roastingDrizzlingMarinades

Pairings

• Aged sheep cheeseClassic

  Thyme and salt, as in the Mediterranean.

• Roast lambClassic

  Thyme and lamb.

• Central Otago stone fruit

  Both from the same hills.

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

Thyme was brought to Central Otago by gold miners in the 1860s, reputedly for cooking and medicine, and escaped across the schist hills. The gold has gone and the thyme has stayed.

Claims about this honey