Avocado honey tastes buttery, while raspberry honey is floral but only slightly fruity.
Surprised? Don’t be.
“The average American doesn’t know that honey tastes different, depending on the blossom,” said Jami Yanoski, marketing manager for the Firestone-based National Honey Board.
“But the food world knows. In California, single-flower honey has become a boutique business — avocado honey, fireweed honey, raspberry honey.”
Some people host honey-sampling events, especially during Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year festival in which honey plays a key role.
Because it’s literally her job to know the nuances of honey, Yanoski is hyper-aware of the distinction between, say, kudzu honey (“like grape Jolly Ranchers”) and avocado honey (“it mimics the fruit, a really smooth texture”). Buckwheat honey is famously nut-brown and dense, like a liquid version of the grain.
“My personal favorite is fireweed,” Yanoski said. “It comes from Alaska, Washington or Oregon. Fireweed is one of the first things that blooms after a forest fire. It makes a super-light honey. You know how clover honey is: ‘Whoa, THAT honey’s sweet? This is a lighter taste. And the fireweed honey from Alaska tastes different from the fireweed honey from Oregon or Washington.”
Mead-makers are exacting about how they use single-flower honey. Boulder-based Redstone Meadery describes its meads by listing the ratios of crop-specific honey. Owner David Myers keeps a collection of varietal honeys from his travels.
While Colorado’s altitude and abbreviated growing season limit the variety of locally harvested honey, it’s still possible to find a half-dozen distinctly different kinds of honey at in-state apiaries and farmers markets. — Claire Martin
Where to find your honey
Alpine wildflower
Ambrosia Honey
6565 309 Road, Parachute; Very light, translucent and floral, with a slightly spicy edge
Clover honey
Madhava
Lyons; 303-823-5166, Very light amber hue, mild and sweet
Orange blossom honey
Beeyond The Hive
Fort Collins and Rocky Ford; 970-405-0709, Very sweet and light, with a marked citrus scent and taste
Raspberry honey
Schmidt Apiaries
4802 Gatewood Drive, Colorado Springs; 719-574-1283 Fruity, with smooth chocolate undertones
Star thistle honey
BeeRaw, LLC
P.O. Box 1343, New York, NY 10013 Reminiscent of a spice cookie, very thick, buttery and creamy.
Tamarack honey
Schmidt Apiaries
Dark amber, with a muscular, savory sweetness
