HoneyHQ

Flavour selector

Start from a flavour you already like and work outwards to the honeys that carry it — and to the families that keep turning up alongside it.

Flavour family

Editorial groupings rather than measurements. The number is how many honeys in the catalogue carry each one.

Clear

72 of 265 honeys carry resinous

Where a source names balsamic

Only honeys whose trained panel or official specification uses this exact term. A honey in the resinous family has not thereby been found to taste of it.

  • Silver fir honey — official honey specification: “balsamic aroma, malty taste” (HoneyHQ translation from French)

What tends to come with it

Families that appear on the same records, commonest first. This is a count of co-occurrences in the catalogue, not a claim that the two tastes resemble each other — it answers “if you like this, what else is usually in the jar”.

All 72 honeys

In catalogue order. Nothing here is ranked — no honey is a better answer than another until you say what you want it for.

  • Flavour families are editorial groupings, and the boundaries between them are matters of judgement rather than fact.
  • It does not model intensity of a family, only its presence — a honey with a trace of smoke and one dominated by it both match 'smoky'.
  • Adjacency is co-occurrence in this catalogue, not similarity of taste. It answers what tends to be in the jar together, which is a different question from what tastes alike.
  • The map shifts as the catalogue grows, which is correct and does mean a link shared today may show slightly different neighbours next year.

The vocabulary under each family

HoneyHQ’s six groups and eighteen families, with the reference terms the International Honey Commission’s trained panels use and the terms official honey specifications add. A term is a link only where a source has named it in a honey in the catalogue; the rest are vocabulary, shown so you can see what the family covers.

The International Honey Commission odour and aroma vocabulary7 families, 19 sub-families and 64 reference terms. 17 of the terms have a sourced finding for at least one honey in the catalogue; the rest are vocabulary only.Floral – fresh fruitFreshWarmWoodyVegetalChemicalSpoiledFloralOrange blossomVioletRoseHyacinthFresh fruitPear — sourced in the catalogueApple — sourced in the catalogueRed fruitBlackcurrant — sourced in the catalogueCoconutApricotExotic fruitRefreshingMintEucalyptusAniseed — sourced in the catalogueCitrus fruitLemonOrangeGrapefruitSubtle warmFresh butter — sourced in the catalogueVanilla — sourced in the catalogueBeeswax — sourced in the catalogueAlmond pasteCaramelisedToffeeCaramel — sourced in the catalogueBrown sugarCooked fruitDatesPrunesFigsRaisinsCandied fruitBurntMolasses — sourced in the catalogueBurnt sugar — sourced in the catalogueDry woodLeafy woodDustWalnut — sourced in the catalogueHazelnut — sourced in the catalogueResinousCedarPine resin — sourced in the cataloguePropolisSpicyCloveNutmegCoffee — sourced in the catalogueGreenRaw beanCrushed leafVegetation after rainDry vegetalPale malt — sourced in the catalogueStraw — sourced in the catalogueTea — sourced in the catalogueDry hayPetrochemicalStyrenePaintSolventMedicinalHousehold soapVitamin B1PungentPiquant cheeseVinegarAnimalCheesePerspirationCowshedCat urineDamp and earthyDamp clothHumusStuffySulphurousGlobe artichokeCabbagesourced for a honey in the cataloguevocabulary only
Structure after the harmonised terminology in Piana et al., “Sensory analysis applied to honey: state of the art”, Apidologie 2004. Drawn by HoneyHQ from its own data; not a copy of any published wheel.

Floral and fruity

Green and herbal

Warm and cooked

Woody and resinous

Spicy and sharp

Earthy and mineral

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