Exploring Varieties of Honey: Flavors, Colors, and Textures

What’s up to all of our friends in the community! Welcome to “Exploring Varieties of Honey: Flavors, Colors, and Textures” with the Honey House Team. As we dive in please keep in mind that the intricacies of Beekeeping & Honey are vast, and all of the insights we give, we do so to help educate the world regardless of your experience levels in beekeeping!

Honey is a wonderful natural sweetener that can be used for both food, and beverage. Many people across the world also use it for its medicinal properties. It is because of its many uses that a lot find honey to be fascinating. All honey is made by bees but this does not make every honey the exact same.

Bees make honey by collecting nectars from blooming plants. Since there are many different kinds of flowers, one can expect that no two kinds of honey are the same. 

Let’s dive deeper into the sweet world of honey varieties!

Honey Classifications

Browsing through the grocery aisle, you might see that there are many types of honey. One of the first things to notice is the label. It might have something that says raw, wild, creamed, pure, multifloral, combed, monofloral, etc. 

Honey is classified according to many factors. Some producers base it on the origin or the geographic location where the bees are farmed. Some base it on the types of foraging bees or the bee species that made the honey. There are also those who classify honey according to its color and texture.

Before going through the different honey types, take a look first at the basics of how bees make honey:

From Nectar to Delicious Honey

The workers or foraging bees do most of the work in making honey. They collect nectar from plants using the tongue-like structure in their mouths. The nectar is stored and goes through a chemical process in a special part of their stomach called the crop. After having enough raw material, they take the processed nectar into the hive where other bees fan it out. After evaporating most of the water, the nectar now becomes a mature honey. The bees seal the cells on the comb with wax and the honey is safely stored for future use. It can either be food for the bees during winter when they can no longer forage, or harvested by beekeepers for human consumption. 

Now that you have an idea about how honey is made from nectar into a jarful of sweet delight, it is time to learn about the classifications of honey.

What Makes Every Honey Different

Aside from the aroma, every type of honey differs in color and flavor. These properties all depend on the type of flowers that bees collect nectar from. Bees that collect nectar from buckwheat flowers, for example, will produce a dark color and full flavor while those that collect from orange blossoms will make a lightly colored honey that has a lighter flavor.

For its color, honey ranges from very dark brown to almost colorless. To be more specific, honey has seven color grades as classified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The clear hues are classified into water white, extra white, and white. The orange to brown hues on the other hand are classified into extra light amber, light amber, amber, and dark amber. Most of those sold at stores have a nearly golden hue hence the moniker “liquid gold”. 

For its flavor, it can either be bold or light. Aside from the type of flower, it is the processing that honey goes through after harvest that dictates its flavor. Honey from commercial farms goes through pasteurization. This process is the use of extreme heat to destroy yeast or bacteria that may be present in honey or in the containers to be used for storage. Pasteurization does not only alter the raw, bold taste of honey but also removes many of its best properties. This is why buying honey from a local producer is preferred because the raw state of honey remains with thorough straining or filtering without the use of heat. 

When it comes to texture, honey can be liquid, comb, chunk, or creamed. It will depend on the methods used by the beekeeper in harvesting and preparing the honey for consumption. The most popular form of honey is liquid which is simply separated from the beeswax using a honey extractor. It is strained to remove wax particles, debris, and bee remnants. After filtration, liquid honey is stored and sealed into jars and other airtight containers. 

Comb honey is not commonly sold at stores. It is best enjoyed in the bee farm where you can have a taste of the smooth texture of honey oozing right from the honeycomb cells. You may also eat the beeswax which has a chewy texture and marvel at the unique textural experience.

If you can see a jar of honey with a slice of comb inside, that is what is referred to as chunk honey. Pieces of the comb are added to the jar of liquid honey not only for aesthetic purposes but also to encourage trying comb honey at home. 

You better try creamed honey if you haven’t yet. The creamy texture is created by artificially inducing crystallization. The extremely fine crystals that are formed give the honey a thick and creamy texture that is great when used for spreads and sweet concoctions. 

Now with creamed honey, there is a nasty misconception that honey is spoiled when it begins to crystallize. This is not true. Crystallization is a natural process because honey contains glucose and fructose. The microscopic sugar crystals are attracted to each other so they might adhere together when stored for a long time. When this happens, you can gently warm the jar in a water bath and it will return to liquid once again. 

Knowing What Type of Honey to Buy

Manuka honey, Clover honey, Alfalfa honey, Buckwheat honey, Lavender honey, Tupelo honey, Eucalyptus honey, or Avocado honey—it can be very overwhelming to see so many types of honey on the grocery shelves! 

There are over 300 different types of honey that are sold in the United States. You can just imagine how fascinating it would be to try all the variety of flavor profiles in your tea, favorite desserts, charcuterie boards, cold brews, and other sumptuous food and drinks. Eucalyptus honey, for example, is favored by those who want something that has a slightly medicinal scent. Manuka honey is great if you prefer a rich caramel taste with a bittersweet finish. 

With the number of choices you have, remember that the best kind of honey will ultimately depend on your preference. While they differ in taste, appearance, and texture, it is reassuring that they all have the beneficial properties of honey as long as they are naturally processed.

At Honey House one of our goals is to bring centralized variety to the consumer! We know that there is a large variety of options available, and we would love to be able to help you try as many different kinds as possible. We hope you enjoyed this article, and if there are any kinds of honey out there that you have sampled, and think are the best please let us know!