Ulmo honey

Flavour and aroma

Aroma

jasmine, orange blossom, butterscotch, warm cream

Flavour

jasmine, candied citrus, butterscotch, a soft floral finish

Finish

Long and perfumed; the aroma persists well after swallowing.

Intensity

Pronounced

Sweetness

Very sweet

Bitterness

None

Acidity

Low

Colour, texture and crystallisation

Colour

Extra white (8-17 mm Pfund)toWhite (17-34 mm Pfund)toExtra light amber (34-50 mm Pfund)

Pale ivory to light gold, becoming almost white as it sets.

On setting: Sets to a smooth pale cream, which is how most of it is sold.

Texture

Soft set; Creamed; Thick but pourable

Crystallisation

Fast — granulates within weeks

Granulates readily and finely within a month or two. The set suits it — the perfume concentrates on the palate rather than running off a spoon.

Typical composition

Moisture

15–18.5% (typically 16.8%)

Fructose

36–42% (typically 39%)

Glucose

32–38% (typically 35%)

Glucose-to-fructose ratio

0.85–1.02 (typically 0.92)

pH

3.6–4.4 (typically 4)

Electrical conductivity

0.15–0.4 mS/cm (typically 0.25 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

Eucryphia cordifolia, in the same small southern-hemisphere genus as Tasmanian leatherwood (E. lucida) — a Gondwanan relationship that shows in both honeys' unusual perfume.

Origins

The Valdivian temperate rainforest of southern Chile — Los Ríos, Los Lagos and Araucanía — and adjacent parts of Argentina.

Origin pages

• South America
• Chile

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

Harvest

January to February (southern hemisphere)

Southern-hemisphere high summer, and short — three to four weeks, and heavily dependent on the weather during it.

The bees

Colonies are moved into the forest for the flow. The Valdivian rainforest has a rich native pollinator fauna including the enormous Bombus dahlbomii, a bumblebee that has collapsed catastrophically following the introduction of commercial European bumblebees — one of the starkest documented cases of managed bees harming a native one.

Usual processing

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

Production depends on standing native forest, which puts it in direct tension with logging and with conversion to eucalyptus and pine plantation across southern Chile. A honey that requires old-growth rainforest is a honey with a land-use argument attached.

What to do with it

Eat it cold and unheated; the perfume is the entire product and heat removes it. Excellent on plain dairy and on anything where a floral note is welcome.

At the tableSpreadingDessertsWith cheeseIn hot drinks

Pairings

• Fresh cheeses and thick creamClassic

  Plain dairy is the best carrier there is for an aromatic honey — nothing competes.

• Almond and citrus desserts

  The honey is already carrying candied-citrus and blossom notes; this extends them.

• Green tea

  A floral honey against a vegetal tea, provided the water is not boiling.