I used to think honey was honey. Well, what I mean is that I knew there was runny honey and there was a thick, almost solid kind, but it all tasted pretty much honey-like. Well…….! How wrong was I! Take a look a this photo –
Here are three jars of honey on my window shelf in Aix. The one of the left was bought in a shop. It’s a mix of honey’s – see the label says “3 sources”? In whisky terms, that’s a blend. I never drink blended whisky – it’s just a taste thing. The other two honeys are bought in the local market. The one in the middle is honey made from bees which have collected pollen from chestnut trees. Goodness! I wish my vocabulary was better! The scent which hits you when you unscrew the cap! It’s like nothing I’ve ever smelled before. I can’t say I’ve ever noticed that either chestnuts or chestnut trees have much of a scent but this honey has the most powerful aroma! Then the taste! I swear I’ve never tasted honey like this. It is a really strong taste. I’m sure this is one of those honeys you’d either love or hate. I bet there aren’t many people who’d say they could take it or leave it. The third honey, the one on the far right, is from lavender. You might have tasted a lavender honey I guess. This one, maybe again because it’s from a market, has a very strong taste, but totally different from the chestnut one. It’s consistency is also totally different. Looks solid but the spoon slips easily through it and it drips thick and creamy onto your brioche (or your bread).
What makes them so different? Is it the plants the bees gather the honey from? Is there something involved in the production method of the different bee-keepers? I don’t know. It’s a huge area of ignorance for me. But let me tell you something interesting. Starting the day, carefully savouring such different flavours, smelling such different aromas, it sets you up to taste everything you eat or drink that day with more care and attention. I recommend it.
Heroes Not Zombies 
They all sound delicious. Funny how there are so many variations of what one would think is a simple food item.
How wonderful to see the sunshine behind the honey, with the honey itself being a product of sunny days belied by the leafless trees in the background, a promise of the coming of warmth even in winter!
I’m a huge honey fan. I don’t have sugar in the house except for cooking. Otherwise I sweeten all my teas with honey. I buy honey locally whenever I travel. There was a honey from the South, Tennessee somewhere, that was made from bees that evidently lived in a pine forest. It had a flavor that when I describe it as piney people make a face, but it was more reminiscent of the smell of pine than tasting of pine (thankfully).
I’m a huge fan of varied honeys. They make a difference as to which hot tea I’m having as I experiment to get the flavors to compliment each other.
Honey’s fun. I say all that as a consumer who knows nothing about bees, what causes the flavors, or anything other than “oooh, that’s new” when it comes to honey.