Europe honey

How honey is produced here

Northern and central Europe run on trees and field crops — acacia, lime, rape, buckwheat — with the alpine and montane forests producing the world's most important honeydew honeys. The south runs on aromatic scrub and citrus, with lower moisture and longer, more staggered seasons. Transhumant beekeeping is long established across Spain, France, Italy and Turkey.

Production and trade in numbers

FAOSTAT, extracted 2026-09-29. Values not received as official national figures are marked as estimated or imputed. A year with no figure is a dash, never a zero. Trade values are customs declarations — not producer prices and not profit. Open it in the country tool, or read how countries compare.

Flavour signature

The flavour families that recur across this origin’s honeys, counted from their sensory profiles rather than asserted.

• Floral · 15
• Herbaceous · 10
• Fruity · 9
• Resinous · 9
• Vegetal · 9
• Caramel · 8
• Woody · 5
• Mineral and saline · 5

Protected honeys from here

Registered names with a specification: the honey types each allows and the hardest limit it sets. Water and HMF limits stricter than the general honey standard are a sign of honey handled cold and sold young.

• Miel d’Alsace — PGI

  The Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin départements: the Vosges and Jura uplands, the vineyard hills and the Rhine plain.

  • Acacia (black locust) (Acacia honey) — electrical conductivity 1 à 3 (×10⁻⁴ S/cm, i.e. 0.1–0.3 mS/cm)
  • Flower (multifloral)
  • Sweet chestnut (Chestnut honey) — electrical conductivity ≥ 7 (×10⁻⁴ S/cm, i.e. ≥ 0.7 mS/cm)
  • Forest (honeydew) (Forest honeydew honey)
  • Lime (linden) (Linden honey) — electrical conductivity 3,5 à 8 (×10⁻⁴ S/cm, i.e. 0.35–0.8 mS/cm)
  • Fir honeydew (Silver fir honey) — electrical conductivity ≥ 9,5 (×10⁻⁴ S/cm, i.e. ≥ 0.95 mS/cm)

  Every type: water ≤ 18 %; hmf ≤ 10 mg/kg; sucrose ≤ 5 g/100 g; free acidity ≤ 50 meq/kg; diastase activity ≥ 8 Schade.

  Cahier des charges « Miel d’Alsace » en vue d’une indication géographique protégée, August 2004, Cahier des charges §IV.2.3. In French. Paraphrased by HoneyHQ from the document; not an official translation.

• Miód drahimski — PGI

  The communes of Czaplinek, Wierzchowo, Barwice and Borne Sulinowo in the Drawsko lake district, north-west Poland.

  • Buckwheat (Buckwheat honey) — share of the plant's pollen > 45 % pyłków gryki
  • Heather (Heather honey) — share of the plant's pollen > 45 % pyłków wrzosu
  • Rapeseed (Rapeseed honey) — share of the plant's pollen > 45 % pyłków rzepaku
  • Lime (linden) (Linden honey) — share of the plant's pollen > 20 % pyłków lipy
  • Multifloral

  Every type: water < 18 %; hmf < 25 mg/kg; glucose + fructose > 67 %; free acidity < 40 mval/kg meq/kg; sucrose < 4%; proline > 25 mg/100 g.

  „Miód drahimski” — jednolity dokument (single document, Council Regulation (EC) No 510/2006), OJ C 248, 15 September 2010, Single document §3.2, Table 1; §3.5. In Polish. Paraphrased by HoneyHQ from the document; not an official translation.

• Miel de Granada — PDO

  Every municipality of the province of Granada, Andalusia — 12,531 km²; packing in the same area.

  • Sweet chestnut (Chestnut honey) — electrical conductivity > 0.8 mS/cm; share of the plant's pollen > 75% de Castanea sativa
  • Rosemary (Rosemary honey) — electrical conductivity < 0.25 mS/cm; share of the plant's pollen > 15% de Rosmarinus officinalis ó > 10% Rosmarinus officinalis y > 5% otras labiadas
  • Thyme (Thyme honey) — electrical conductivity > 0.3 y < 0.8 mS/cm; share of the plant's pollen > 15% Thymus sp.
  • Avocado (Avocado honey) — electrical conductivity > 0.7 mS/cm; share of the plant's pollen > 25% de Persea sp.
  • Orange blossom (Orange blossom honey) — electrical conductivity < 0.3 mS/cm; share of the plant's pollen > 15% de Citrus sp.
  • French lavender (Lavandula stoechas) (Rosmaninho honey) — electrical conductivity < 0.5 mS/cm; share of the plant's pollen > 15% de Lavandula stoechas
  • Mountain honey — share of the plant's pollen > 20% Castanea sp
  • Multifloral

  Every type: water < 17,5 %; hmf < 18 mg/kg.

  Pliego de condiciones de la DOP «Miel de Granada» (consolidated), Orden de 14 de noviembre de 2022 (BOJA núm. 224, 22.11.2022), Pliego §B.1–B.3, §E.1. In Spanish. Paraphrased by HoneyHQ from the document; not an official translation.

• Miel de sapin des Vosges — PDO

  Defined communes of the Vosges massif in Meurthe-et-Moselle, Moselle, Haute-Saône, Vosges and the Territoire de Belfort.

  • Fir honeydew (Vosges fir honey) — electrical conductivity > 950 µS/cm, i.e. 0.95 mS/cm

  Every type: water ≤ 18 %; electrical conductivity > 950 µS/cm, i.e. 0.95 mS/cm; hmf < 15 mg/kg.

  Cahier des charges de l’appellation d’origine « Miel de sapin des Vosges » (consolidated), As amended, OJ C 305, 15 September 2020, Cahier des charges, description du produit; aire géographique; méthode d’obtention. In French. Paraphrased by HoneyHQ from the document; not an official translation.

• Miel de La Alcarria — PDO

  The agrarian comarca of La Alcarria in the provinces of Guadalajara and Cuenca, central Spain — 10,354 km²; packing in the same municipalities.

  • Rosemary (Rosemary honey) — share of the plant's pollen ≥ 12% de Rosmarinus officinalis
  • Spike lavender (espliego) — share of the plant's pollen > 10% de espliego (Lavandula latifolia, Lavandula vera y sus híbridos naturales)
  • Multifloral — share of the plant's pollen ≥ 3% (suma de labiadas)

  Every type: water 17,5 %; hmf 18,0 mg/kg; free acidity 35,0 meq/kg.

  Pliego de condiciones de la Denominación de Origen «Miel de La Alcarria» (consolidated), Pliego de condiciones definitivo, June 2025, Pliego §2.1–2.3, §3, §5. In Spanish. Paraphrased by HoneyHQ from the document; not an official translation.

• Elatis Menalou Vanilia — PDO

  The fir zone of the Mainalo mountains in Arcadia, Peloponnese: 24 municipalities and communities in the former provinces of Gortynia and Mantineia.

  • Fir honeydew (Vanilia) (Greek fir honey)

  Every type: water 15% (14–15,5%); sucrose > 10% (8–18%).

  Υπουργική Απόφαση 313049 — Αναγνώριση προστατευόμενης ονομασίας προέλευσης μελιού «Ελάτης Μαινάλου – Βανίλια» περιοχής συμπλέγματος όρους Μαινάλου, ΦΕΚ Β΄ 16, 14 January 1994, Decision §1–§4. In Greek. Paraphrased by HoneyHQ from the document; not an official translation.

Honeys from Europe

• Acacia honeyWater white · DelicateClean, light and sweet with almost nothing in the way. The honey to reach for when you want sweetness without a flavour opinion.
• Linden honeyExtra white · ModerateFresh and cooling — mint, balsam and lime blossom, with a clean herbal sharpness no other pale honey has.
• Chestnut honeyAmber · IntenseAromatic, woody and unmistakably bitter — sweetness first, tannin second, and a long dry finish.
• Heather honeyLight amber · IntenseStrong, smoky and slightly bitter, with a lingering woodfire-and-toffee character. One of the most complex honeys produced anywhere.
• Thyme honeyLight amber · PronouncedWarm, herbal and savoury — thyme and dry stone, with a peppery lift and a very long finish.
• Rosemary honeyWater white · DelicateDelicate and softly aromatic — floral first, with a thin thread of resin behind it that tells you where it came from.
• Lavender honeyWhite · PronouncedOvertly perfumed — lavender flower, warm hay and a soft fruity sweetness underneath. Aromatic in a way most honeys are not.
• Orange blossom honeyExtra white · ModerateUnmistakably floral and citrus-scented — orange blossom in the glass, with the fruit itself somewhere behind it.
• Buckwheat honeyDark amber · IntenseMalt, molasses and wet straw, with a savoury, almost animal depth. The most polarising honey in general production.
• Silver fir honeyAmber · PronouncedMalty, resinous and barely sweet, with a balsamic depth and a long woody finish. One of the least sugary honeys there is.
• Rapeseed honeyWater white · MildSweet and very mild, faintly cabbage-like when fresh and cleanly bland once set. Texture is what it has instead of flavour.
• Strawberry tree honeyLight amber · IntenseAggressively bitter — coffee grounds, artichoke and burnt sugar, with the sweetness arriving late and briefly. Nothing in food prepares most people for it.
• Hymettus honeyLight amber · PronouncedIntensely aromatic and herbal, with a warm thyme character, a resinous maquis edge and a long finish that carries a distinct savoury note.
• Corsican maquis honeyExtra light amber · PronouncedRanges from delicate and floral in spring to intensely bitter and resinous in the autumn maquis, which is dominated by strawberry tree and is among the most challenging honeys in Europe.
• Alcarria honeyWater white · ModerateDelicate and aromatic, with a clean herbal sweetness — the rosemary type is softer and more floral, the lavender type more perfumed and slightly camphoraceous.
• Vosges fir honeyDark amber · PronouncedBalsamic and malty with a resinous woody depth and a marked lack of sweetness — closer to treacle and pine resin than to anything floral.
• Willow honeyExtra white · MildMild, faintly green and quick to set. A spring honey in the literal sense, and one most beekeepers taste and few buyers ever see.
• Blackthorn honeyExtra white · MildDelicate, almondy and fleeting. Recognisably a Prunus honey, and the closest thing in the European catalogue to the taste of a hedge in March.
• Pear blossom honeyWater white · DelicateVery light and faintly green, with a clean sweetness and almost nothing behind it. Notable chiefly for how hard it is to get.
• Rowan honeyLight amber · ModerateAmber, tart and faintly bitter, with a red-fruit note that echoes the berries the tree is better known for.
• Field maple honeyExtra light amber · ModerateFresh and faintly green with a warm caramel base — a spring honey with rather more body than its colour suggests.
• Plum blossom honeyExtra white · MildLight, sweet and gently almondy, with a soft fruit note behind it. An easy honey and a short-lived one.
• Motherwort honeyExtra light amber · ModerateClean and lightly herbal with a faint bitterness at the end — a summer honey that tastes of the plant rather than of sugar.
• Hyssop honeyExtra light amber · PronouncedOvertly herbal — camphor, mint and warm stone — over a clean gold sweetness. One of the more clearly aromatic herb honeys.
• Ailanthus honeyLight amber · IntenseIntensely aromatic — muscat grape and elderflower with a medicinal edge. It divides opinion more sharply than any other European honey.
• Sea buckthorn honeyLight amber · ModerateSharp and fruity where berry juice has been added, and an ordinary golden coastal honey where it has not. The two are quite different products under one name.
• Hedgerow honeyExtra light amber · ModerateWarm, floral and slightly grassy, with a caramel base. A good hedgerow honey is a genuinely complex thing that happens not to have a Latin name.
• Spring blossom honeyExtra white · MildMild, creamy and clean, with a faint cabbagey note where rape dominates. An easy honey and a spreadable one.
• Carrot seed honeyAmber · PronouncedDark, savoury and faintly medicinal, with a green umbellifer note and a slightly bitter finish. A challenging honey and an interesting one.

When these honeys are typically harvested

Sourced periods for this place

Read from a source for the place named, and kept apart from the typical windows elsewhere on HoneyHQ, which are synthesis. Flowering, nectar flow and harvest are different periods.

• Flowering: Rosemary — February–March

  Provence (the PGI area), France · northern hemisphere · Onset as stated · Protected-name specification

  "Early flowerings — from February–March for rosemary" (HoneyHQ's translation from the French of the specification).

  The specification gives when rosemary begins, as an example of Provence's long season; it does not say when it ends.

  Source: Cahier des charges — indication géographique protégée « Miel de Provence ». Checked 2026-10-31.

• Nectar flow: Rosemary — March–May

  Provence (the PGI area), France · northern hemisphere · Season words; months derived · Protected-name specification

  "This flow takes place in spring, or very rarely in autumn" (HoneyHQ's translation from the French of the specification).

  An autumn flow is possible but rare, and is not drawn.

  Source: Cahier des charges — indication géographique protégée « Miel de Provence ». Checked 2026-10-31.

• Harvest: Thyme honey — March–May

  Provence (the PGI area), France · northern hemisphere · Season words; months derived · Protected-name specification

  "This harvest takes place in spring, after the rosemary flow" (HoneyHQ's translation from the French of the specification).

  Later in spring than rosemary; the specification does not narrow it further, so the whole season is drawn.

  Source: Cahier des charges — indication géographique protégée « Miel de Provence ». Checked 2026-10-31.

• Flowering: Heather — September–October

  Provence (the PGI area), France · northern hemisphere · Months as stated · Protected-name specification

  "Late flowerings — September–October for heather, for example" (HoneyHQ's translation from the French of the specification). The specification names tree heath, ling and bell heather among Provence's heathers.

  Heather honeys are harvested in the Maures, the Estérel and the Var coast.

  Source: Cahier des charges — indication géographique protégée « Miel de Provence ». Checked 2026-10-31.

• Nectar flow: Lavender — June–August

  Provence (the PGI area), France · northern hemisphere · Season words; months derived · Protected-name specification

  Hives move to the mountains "until the end of spring", then "to the lavender honey production areas, before returning to the more southerly wintering areas in autumn" (HoneyHQ's translation from the French of the specification). The lavender flow falls between, in summer.

  A violent mistral can 'dry' the lavender nectar, the specification notes; yields vary widely from year to year.

  Source: Cahier des charges — indication géographique protégée « Miel de Provence ». Checked 2026-10-31.

• Nectar flow: Sweet chestnut — June–August

  Corsica (the PDO area), France · northern hemisphere · Season words; months derived · Protected-name specification

  Among the island's seasonal nectar staples, "chestnut at the start of summer" (HoneyHQ's translation from the French of the Corsica specification).

  The specification says the start of summer; the whole season is drawn, because it does not say which month it means. The quantity varies with the year's weather.

  Source: Cahier des charges de l’appellation d’origine « Miel de Corse – Mele di Corsica ». Checked 2026-10-31.

• Nectar flow: Strawberry tree — September–February

  Corsica (the PDO area), France · northern hemisphere · Season words; months derived · Protected-name specification

  Among the island's seasonal nectar staples, "strawberry tree in autumn–winter" (HoneyHQ's translation from the French of the Corsica specification).

  The source of the bitter autumn-maquis honey. The quantity varies with the year's weather.

  Source: Cahier des charges de l’appellation d’origine « Miel de Corse – Mele di Corsica ». Checked 2026-10-31.

• Nectar flow: Sweet chestnut — June

  Corsica (the PDO area), France · northern hemisphere · Months as stated · Beekeeping authority

  Some of the colonies made early in the season "can go into production on the chestnut flow (mid-June)" (HoneyHQ's translation from the French of the beekeeping institute's case study).

  The study places the flow in mid-June and gives no end month, so only June is drawn. Since the chestnut gall wasp arrived in 2010 the chestnut flow has become less reliable, the study notes.

  Source: Cas-type apiculture — Corse : miel en AOP et vente en demi-gros. Checked 2026-10-31.

• Nectar flow: Strawberry tree — October–November

  Corsica (the PDO area), France · northern hemisphere · Months as stated · Beekeeping authority

  "At the end of the season (October or November), beekeepers can take their hives to strawberry tree"; the season "can run until November or even December with the autumn maquis flow (mainly strawberry tree)" (HoneyHQ's translation from the French of the beekeeping institute's case study).

  Drawn October to November; "or even December" is an extension the study does not make regular, so it is kept in the words and not drawn. The flow may yield honey for sale or only the colonies' winter stores.

  Source: Cas-type apiculture — Corse : miel en AOP et vente en demi-gros. Checked 2026-10-31.

• Harvest: Corsican maquis honey — January–December

  Corsica (the PDO area), France · northern hemisphere · All year, as stated · Protected-name specification

  "Harvest periods take place throughout the year", from capped combs and at good ripeness (HoneyHQ's translation from the French of the Corsica specification).

  The six named types follow the island's flowering sequence through the year, from spring to the autumn maquis; the specification gives no month for each type.

  Source: Cahier des charges de l’appellation d’origine « Miel de Corse – Mele di Corsica ». Checked 2026-10-31.

• Harvest: Corsican maquis honey — April–November

  Corsica (the PDO area), France · northern hemisphere · Months as stated · Protected-name specification

  "The harvests are spread through the whole year, from April to October–November or even February" (HoneyHQ's translation from the French of the Corsica specification).

  Drawn April to November; the specification's "or even February" is a late extension it does not make regular, so it is kept in the words and not drawn.

  Source: Cahier des charges de l’appellation d’origine « Miel de Corse – Mele di Corsica ». Checked 2026-10-31.

• Harvest: Corsican maquis honey — March–May

  Corsica (the PDO area), France · northern hemisphere · Months as stated · Beekeeping authority

  The spring honey (clementine, asphodel) is "harvested from March to May" (HoneyHQ's translation from the French of the regional tourism agency's page).

  The PDO's "Printemps" type.

  Source: Le miel corse. Checked 2026-10-31.

• Harvest: Corsican maquis honey — May–September

  Corsica (the PDO area), France · northern hemisphere · Months as stated · Beekeeping authority

  The maquis honeydews (rockrose, oaks, mastic tree) are "harvested from May to September" on the coast and the wooded land around the maquis (HoneyHQ's translation from the French of the regional tourism agency's page).

  The PDO's "Miellats du maquis" type. A harvest of honeydew honey: it says when the honey comes off, not when the insects are active.

  Source: Le miel corse. Checked 2026-10-31.

• Harvest: Corsican maquis honey — August

  Corsica (the PDO area), France · northern hemisphere · Onset as stated · Beekeeping authority

  The summer maquis honey is "harvested from August" (HoneyHQ's translation from the French of the regional tourism agency's page).

  The PDO's "Maquis d'été" type. The page gives when the harvest begins, not when it ends.

  Source: Le miel corse. Checked 2026-10-31.

• Harvest: Corsican maquis honey — October–February

  Corsica (the PDO area), France · northern hemisphere · Months as stated · Beekeeping authority

  The autumn maquis honey, mainly strawberry tree, is "harvested from October to February" (HoneyHQ's translation from the French of the regional tourism agency's page).

  The PDO's "Maquis d'automne" type; it crosses the new year.

  Source: Le miel corse. Checked 2026-10-31.

• Harvest: Heather honey — August–September

  The Lüneburg Heath, Germany · northern hemisphere · Months as stated · Official institution

  Heather honey is only harvested at the end of the season, in August and September.

  Only when the weather is right and the heather flowers are well developed; the page gives no flowering months, so none is drawn.

  Source: Heather honey — sweet heather on bread. Checked 2026-10-31.

• Flowering: Black locust — April–May

  Isaszeg, Debrecen and Kecskemét stands, Hungary · northern hemisphere · Measured in named years (2023, 2024) · Peer-reviewed study

  Average flowering periods of 14 to 27 days. At Isaszeg in 2024, flowering began on 14–20 April and, in one stand, ran in two phases to 18–20 May.

  Lower rainfall and lower soil temperature delayed the onset; the number of chill and heat days also moved it.

  Source: Soil temperature and weather factors as key drivers of flowering phenology and nectar production in black locust. Checked 2026-10-31.

• Honeydew flow: Large silver fir aphid on silver fir — May–July

  Baden-Württemberg (sampled stands), Germany · northern hemisphere · Months as stated · Peer-reviewed study

  May to July in the sampled years.

  Honeydew follows the insects' populations, which rise and crash from year to year; a forest can yield nothing in a poor year.

  Source: Sugar, amino acid and inorganic ion profiling of the honeydew from different hemipteran species feeding on Abies alba and Picea abies. Checked 2026-10-31.

• Honeydew flow: Black spruce aphid on Norway spruce — May–July

  Baden-Württemberg (sampled stands), Germany · northern hemisphere · Months as stated · Peer-reviewed study

  May to July in the sampled years.

  Honeydew follows the insects' populations, which rise and crash from year to year; a forest can yield nothing in a poor year.

  Source: Sugar, amino acid and inorganic ion profiling of the honeydew from different hemipteran species feeding on Abies alba and Picea abies. Checked 2026-10-31.

• Honeydew flow: Spruce bud scale on Norway spruce — May–July

  Baden-Württemberg (sampled stands), Germany · northern hemisphere · Months as stated · Peer-reviewed study

  May to July in the sampled years.

  Honeydew follows the insects' populations, which rise and crash from year to year; a forest can yield nothing in a poor year.

  Source: Sugar, amino acid and inorganic ion profiling of the honeydew from different hemipteran species feeding on Abies alba and Picea abies. Checked 2026-10-31.

• Honeydew flow: Giant pine scale on Calabrian and Aleppo pines — March–April

  Greece · northern hemisphere · Months as stated · Peer-reviewed study

  The insect's heaviest honeydew production is in March and April.

  The heaviest production, not the only one: beekeepers work pine forests at other times of year too.

  Source: The effect of cold periods on the biological cycle of Marchalina hellenica. Checked 2026-10-31.

• Honeydew flow: Citrus flatid planthopper on a very wide range of trees, shrubs and crops — June–August

  Italy · northern hemisphere · Season words; months derived · Peer-reviewed study

  Summer.

  An introduced planthopper on a very wide range of trees, shrubs and crops.

  Source: Main European unifloral honeys: descriptive sheets. Checked 2026-10-31.

Every sourced period, on the honey atlas

Plants behind these honeys

• ThymeThymus
• RosemarySalvia rosmarinusThe timing is what makes it exceptional rather than the volume. A high-value plant in March is worth far more to bees than a better plant in July, when everything is flowering.
• SycamoreAcer pseudoplatanusVery high nectar and good pollen, delivered at tree scale in mid-spring, plus a honeydew contribution later. A single mature sycamore is a serious forage asset.
• Sweet chestnutCastanea sativaAn exceptional pollen source — the catkins shed enormous quantities — and a good nectar source in the right weather. The pollen arrives at a useful moment for colonies building towards late summer.
• HeatherCalluna vulgaris
• LavenderLavandula angustifoliaAn unusually good nectar plant relative to its pollen offering. Bees visiting lavender are mostly there for nectar, which is why it supports adult foragers well and contributes less to brood rearing.
• Silver firAbies albaNo floral nectar and negligible pollen. Its entire forage value is honeydew, which is why nectar and pollen are rated separately in this catalogue — a single bee-friendliness score would make this tree look worthless.
• Oilseed rapeBrassica napusTop-rated for both nectar and pollen, and delivered at exactly the moment colonies are expanding fastest in spring. Its faults are entirely about what comes after.
• Strawberry treeArbutus unedoValuable out of all proportion to its abundance, because of when it flowers. Late nectar lets colonies enter winter with fresh stores in a landscape that has otherwise shut down.
• RockroseCistus ladaniferAn outstanding pollen source and a good nectar one, and a plant that also supplies resin for propolis — an unusual triple contribution.

Bees associated with this origin

• Western honey beeApis melliferaThe bee behind essentially all the world's honey, and the one most people mean when they say 'bee'. Apis mellifera is a perennial eusocial insect that overwinters as a living cluster rather than dying back each year — which is the whole reason it stores honey in quantity, and therefore the reason it was ever domesticated. It is native to Europe, Africa and western Asia and has been carried by people to every continent except Antarctica.
• BumblebeesBombusLarge, furry, loud, and cold-tolerant in a way no honey bee is. Bumblebees run annual colonies: a mated queen emerges alone in spring, founds a nest by herself, raises workers through the summer, produces new queens and males in late season, and then the entire colony dies except those new queens. They do make honey, in the strict sense of ripened nectar stores — just a few days' worth, because they have no winter to survive as a colony.
• Mining beesAndrenaSolitary ground-nesting bees, and the small volcano-shaped mounds of fine soil that appear on lawns and bare paths in April are theirs. Mining bees are the classic spring solitary bees of the northern hemisphere: short-lived, entirely harmless, often nesting in dense aggregations that look like a colony but are not, and a great many of them are specialists that visit only one kind of flower.
• European dark beeApis mellifera melliferaThe honey bee that was native to northern Europe before anyone imported anything, and one that has been hybridised close to extinction across most of its range. The dark bee is slow to build, frugal, long-lived, and adapted to cold wet summers and long winters — traits that made it unfashionable when Italian stock arrived, and that look considerably more valuable now than they did in 1900.
• Red mason beeOsmia bicornisThe bee in your bee hotel. Osmia bicornis is the commonest cavity-nesting solitary bee in northwest Europe, the one most gardeners actually manage to attract, and one of the most effective fruit pollinators known — a few hundred females will pollinate an orchard acre as thoroughly as a honey bee colony of tens of thousands. It is also, for practical purposes, incapable of stinging anyone.
• Mason beesOsmiaSolitary spring bees that build their nests out of mud, and the best orchard pollinators most gardeners have never noticed. A female mason bee works entirely alone: she finds a hollow tube, provisions a cell with pollen, lays an egg, walls it off with mud, and repeats until the tube is full. She will pollinate an apple tree several times more effectively than a honey bee while doing it, and she is almost incapable of stinging anyone.
• Carniolan honey beeApis mellifera carnicaThe second most widely kept honey bee subspecies, and the one most European beekeepers choose over Italian stock. Carniolans come from the eastern Alps and the Balkans, and they are adapted to a short intense season: explosive spring build-up, rapid contraction in a dearth, frugal winter consumption — and a swarming instinct that gives beekeepers more work than any other trait.
• Carpenter beesXylocopaThe largest bees most people ever see, and among the loudest. Carpenter bees excavate their own tunnels in dead wood using their mandibles — a remarkable feat for an insect — and the biggest species are the size of the top joint of a thumb. The violet carpenter bee, glossy black with iridescent blue-violet wings, is one of the most spectacular insects in Europe and is spreading northwards.

Honey in Europe

European beekeeping is documented continuously from classical antiquity, and the movable-frame hive that made modern beekeeping possible was developed here and in North America in the mid-nineteenth century. Beeswax was for centuries the more valuable product, because the church needed candles.

Deciding between two of them

• Lavender vs orange blossom honey — The two great perfumed honeys of the Mediterranean. Both carry their flower's aromatics almost intact, which is rare — and they are wanted for opposite reasons.
• Chestnut vs strawberry tree honey — The two great bitter honeys of Europe. One is widely available and a good introduction; the other is the most bitter honey in production and divides people completely.
• Buckwheat vs chestnut honey — The two honeys people reach for when they want something assertive. Buckwheat is malty and barnyard; chestnut is tannic and bitter, and the difference decides which food each belongs with.
• Acacia vs linden honey — Both are pale central European tree honeys with short intense flows. One tastes of almost nothing and the other is among the most aromatic honeys there is.
• Thyme vs rosemary honey — The two great Mediterranean herb honeys. Thyme is warm, savoury and assertive; rosemary is pale, delicate and sets fast — and they are used for opposite purposes.
• Lavender vs thyme honey — Two Mediterranean aromatic honeys that end up in the same conversation and belong at different ends of a meal.