Tulip poplar honey

Flavour and aroma

Aroma

brown butter, malt, woodsmoke, dark caramel

Flavour

butterscotch, malt loaf, faint smoke, a mineral edge

Finish

Long and warm, with the smoke arriving late.

Flavour character

• Warm and cooked — malty, caramel, buttery
• Woody and resinous — smoky

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
6. Amber85–114 mm — this honey
7. Dark amber114+ mm — this honey

Dark reddish amber, noticeably red-toned, sometimes near-black in bulk.

On setting: Sets to a dark coarse-grained brown.

Texture

Thick but pourable; Runny; Soft set

Crystallisation

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

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

Moderately fructose-leaning and slow to granulate, generally holding liquid for the better part of a year.

Typical composition

Moisture

15.5–19% (typically 17.3%)

Fructose

38–44% (typically 41%)

Glucose

28–34% (typically 31%)

Glucose-to-fructose ratio

0.66–0.85 (typically 0.76)

pH

3.8–4.7 (typically 4.2)

Electrical conductivity

0.4–1 mS/cm (typically 0.65 mS/cm)

These are typical ranges assembled across published work, not measurements of a specific honey. High conductivity for a floral honey, reflecting a substantial mineral content — one of the reasons it is so dark.

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

Where it comes from

Floral source

Liriodendron tulipifera, in the magnolia family. Its flowers appear at forty metres and above, which is why most people who live among these trees have never seen one.

Origins

The Appalachian and mid-Atlantic states — Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, the Carolinas, Maryland and southern Pennsylvania.

Origin pages

• North America
• The Appalachians
• United States
• Southeastern United States

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

Typical harvest

May to June (northern hemisphere)

Two to three weeks, and one of the first substantial tree flows of the eastern American year.

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

The bees

A heavy and dependable flow where the trees are abundant, and one that builds colonies rapidly ahead of the summer. The nectar is so copious that it can be seen pooling in the flower cup.

Usual processing

Spun (centrifugally extracted), Coarsely strained, Raw

Frequently blended into generic wildflower honey rather than sold under its own name, which is why a substantial and distinctive American honey remains obscure.

What to do with it

One of the better cooking honeys available in North America. Its malt-and-smoke character survives the oven, which is exactly what a floral honey cannot do.

BakingGlazing and roastingMarinadesAt the tableWith cheeseIn hot drinks

Pairings

• Barbecue and pork glazesClassic

  Smoke and molasses on both sides; the honey reads as an ingredient rather than as sweetening.

• Gingerbread and dark bakingClassic

  It is one of the few honeys still detectable after an hour of heat.

• Aged and blue cheeses

  Enough weight to meet a strong cheese without disappearing under it.

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.