Why Does Honey Taste Different?

Why Does Honey Taste Different? 

The more honey we tasted, the more we realised that "honey" doesn't really describe a single taste.

Some are light and floral. Others are darker and more intense. Some are soft and buttery, while others have a deeper, almost caramel-like character.

They're all honey. So why do they taste so different?

It starts with the flowers

The simplest answer is also the most important.

Bees collect nectar from flowers, and different flowers produce different nectar.

That means the floral source has a big influence on the honey that eventually ends up in the jar.

This was something we started noticing more as we tasted different honeys side by side. 

Once you know where a honey comes from, its flavour starts to make a little more sense.

A honey made predominantly from one floral source can have a very different character from one made from many different flowers.

The landscape matters

Flowers don't grow in isolation.

They are part of a landscape.

A hive surrounded by Western Australia's Jarrah forests is working within a very different environment from one surrounded by Manuka or longan flowers in Northern Thailand.

The bees are responding to what is flowering around them, and the honey reflects some of that environment.

This is one reason we find single-origin honeys so interesting.

They give us a chance to taste a little of a particular place.

Sometimes, the easiest way to understand a honey is to start with where it came from.

Seasons can change the story

Even when the bees are in the same place, honey doesn't necessarily taste exactly the same from one harvest to the next!

Flowers bloom at different times. Weather changes. Rainfall changes. Temperatures change.

All of these can influence what is available to the bees.

So a honey isn't simply a product of a particular tree or flower. It is also a product of a particular place and time.

We find that quite fascinating.

Colour, aroma and texture tell us something too

Taste is only part of the experience.

Before tasting a honey, we usually notice its colour.

Some honeys are pale and almost translucent. Others are deep amber or much darker.

Then there is the aroma. Some smell fresh and floral. Others can be warm, woody, earthy or rich.

And then there is texture.

A honey might be runny and light, thick and slow, creamy, or crystallised.

These characteristics don't tell us everything about a honey, but together they give us clues about what we are about to taste.

There isn't one "best" honey

This is probably the most important thing we've learnt.

Different honeys have different personalities.

One might be delicate and floral. 

Another might be bold and intense. 

You might prefer one on toast and another stirred into tea or used in cooking.

There doesn't need to be a winner.

The fun is in discovering what you like.

And once you start tasting honeys side by side, you begin to notice just how much variation there can be in something we once thought of simply as "honey".

So, why does honey taste different?

Because honey carries something of where it came from.

The flowers.

The landscape.

The season.

The weather.

And, of course, the bees.

The more we taste, the more we realise that honey is a small expression of nature. It carries something of the flowers, the seasons, the weather and the place where the bees live.