How to taste and pair honey

Who knew there was a new, and genuinely serious, breed of honey sommeliers? For most of us, sommeliers are synonymous with wine knowledge and are found almost exclusively in high-end restaurants.

Sarah Wyndham Lewis, who works with leading chefs and bartenders all over the world, is the UK’s first professional honey sommelier. She conveys how to taste and differentiate honey, how to distinguish the good from the poor, even fraudulent, and can explain the best honey to pair with distinctive cheeses and charcuterie, to add to particular recipes to amplify both the honey and the other ingredients, and even use in cocktails to accentuate the nuances of the spirits. Italians take their honey very seriously, so it is not surprising that it is The National Registry of Experts in the Sensory Analysis of Honey based in Bologna where a growing number of honey sommeliers worldwide are trained.

Wyndham Lewis and her husband, former stockbroker turned beekeeper, Dale Gibson, own Bermondsey Street Bees a sustainably-focused business selling raw honey sourced both from their London and country hives and independent beekeepers’ hives around the UK to chefs and bartenders. They also sell a limited amount direct to consumers and have won just about every prize going for their honey.

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7 tips for what to look out for when buying honey

“Honey is, shockingly, one of the most widely counterfeit food products in the world,” warns Wyndham Lewis. “Honey laundering is taking place on a massive scale and is mostly unregulated.”

Fake honey, mostly imported from China, bypasses import laws. Much of the stuff found on supermarket shelves is typically the boiled-down accumulation from thousands of unknown bee colonies of unspecified origin. All of the distinctive flavour and nutrients will have been cooked out into a sweet syrup which is likely to only have a small amount of actual honey from honey bees. It will have been adulterated with high-fructose corn syrup. Such stuff masquerading as ‘honey’ is pushing independent beekeepers to the point of financial collapse. Based on predictions by European Farm Unions Copa-Cogeca, Wyndham Lewis estimates that more than 10 million hives risk being lost from Europe’s agricultural system.

1. Never buy “blended honey”: always read the small print, if it says “blend of..” put it straight back. “There is never a good reason to blend honey,” says Wyndham Lewis.

2. If the label says “product of more than one country outside the EU” for example, this is a stark warning to leave the stuff alone.

3. Avoid buying honey in supermarkets: a great deal of what is on the shelf will not be authentic.

4. Always be 100% clear about who and where the producer is. This should be stated on the jar. Look them up online and see what they say about their honey, their bees and their production method before purchasing.

5. If possible, buy direct from beekeepers. They will often sell in local farmers' markets.

6. Otherwise buy from a local trusted deli or health food store. Ask the retailer where their honey comes from. They should be buying directly from the beekeeper rather than a random wholesaler.

7. Look for ‘raw honey’ which uses only artisanal production methods. It is hand extracted, cold spun out of its comb, and coarse filtered only to remove excess wax before being poured into a honey bucket or jar. This is the basis of traditional, artisanal honey production and ensures that all of the natural, distinctive character of honey that reflects all its terroir and floral origins is preserved and its nutritional components remain intact.

As Wyndham Lewis explains: “Big honey companies or ‘packers’ the world over, who buy in cheap, anonymous global honeys, blend them together at extremely high heats as that is the only way to bring different honeys together. The packers describe this as ‘pasteurisation’, a weaselly term borrowed from dairy production because consumers are already familiar with the word and will unquestioningly just accept it as a good thing.

“Yet, raw honey does not require pasteurisation to make it ‘safe’. It is a perfect, whole natural substance, naturally sterile because it is a sugar supersaturate, so no microorganisms can grow in it as long as the natural moisture water content remains at or below 20%. Honey is regarded by food safety regulators as one of the safest foodstuffs around.”

_{Photo by Cristina Marin on Unsplash}

7 tips for tasting honey

SEE the honey. Pick up the jar of honey and tilt it towards a white surface and evaluate its colour and intensity from extra white to light golden, amber and dark chestnut.

SMELL the honey. First, raise the ambient temperature of the jar or cup of honey by holding it in the palm of your hand, wrapping your fingers around it and rubbing it with your palm. Use a spoon to stir the honey a few times to release the aromas. Smell for about five seconds, repeating several times to get your first impressions of the honey and its sensory characteristics. Though as Wyndham Lewis warns: “A honey’s nose is often wildly different from the flavours it will yield.”

Whilst holding your nose, gently SMEAR a generous teaspoonful of honey on your tongue and behind your teeth and count to five whilst the honey melts on your tongue What are your first impressions? Let go of your nose and breathe through your mouth or nose. That allows the honey’s natural aromas/flavour to be experienced through your olfactory centre, which is infinitely more sensitive than your taste buds. Note how the honey evolves. With your mouth closed, breathe out through your nose and note how the honey evolves.

SWALLOW the honey looking out for tastes and textures that you can relate to. Is it predominantly savoury, sweet, or even bitter? Does it have a complexity of flavour with an evolution of different layers of flavour on the palate?

SENSORY MOUTHFEEL – what kind of texture and density does honey have?

SAVOUR AND SCALE ITS LONGEVITY. How long does the honey last on the palate? The final notes of excellent artisanal honey should remain with you several minutes later.

STAY VIGILANT. “There are no DIY tests for honey authenticity, despite much nonsense about certain qualities of the ‘nose’ and other supposed indicators,” explains Wyndham Lewis. “If it was possible to accurately test honey quality at home, there would not be the massive global honey fraud that currently exists.”

The biggest myth about honey bees perpetuated by honey packers

There’s a pervasive myth, seized upon by commodified honey companies, that honey bees are in danger of becoming extinct, and that they need us all to sprinkle wildflower meadow seeds wherever possible.

“This is so far from the true picture” sighs Wyndham Lewis. “So much emphasis has been erroneously put on saving the honey bees, yet United Nations figures show global hive numbers have risen consistently since the 1960s. Hive density is now worryingly high in many cities where every other fancy hotel and retailer boasts of being green as they keep hives of honey bees on their roof.”

The reality is that there are a great many honey bees in the world and it is their non-honey-producing cousins, the wild bees (such as bumblebees) and solitary species that we need to worry most about in terms of the pollination of all the crops we eat in the entire biosphere. Only about a third of the food we eat comes from plants that are pollinated by honey bees. Wild bees need to be cherished and provided for rather than having to compete with honey bees. They can co-exist happily if there is enough forage to keep them all nourished. 

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7 sublime honey pairings

“Think of honey not as a substitute for sugar, but rather as a seasoning with infinite nuances,” says Wyndham Lewis. “Used judiciously, it has the power to unite or amplify other flavours.

ACACIA HONEY is light and delicate with gently citrus, floral and light grass and herbaceous flavours. It pairs beautifully with raw cow’s milk cheese.

BORAGE HONEY is light and delicate, initially runny but sets rapidly. Pair it with fresh curd, or young goat’s cheese, or drizzle on a ricotta-stuffed courgette flower.

LINDEN or LIME HONEY is pale golden and has fresh, floral blossom aromas with subtle sweetness and hints of wood and mint, giving slightly mentholated notes. This is a great honey to pair with herb teas and dressings.

HEATHER HONEY is dark and semi-set, with warm, woody, deep floral aromas and is assertively full-bodied with a smoky toffee palate with underlying notes of plum and coffee. The finish is long, deep, malty and floral with a tanginess that lingers. It is good in a glaze for ham, pork or game or to partner with a strong Cheddar.

CHESTNUT HONEY is dark and intense with resinous aromas of sandalwood, butterscotch, dark chocolate raisin, hints of truffle, clove, nutmeg and baked bread. Try it with pungent hard cheeses like pecorino.

ARBUTUS (wild Strawberry tree) HONEY is dark and intensely bitter, then opens into some sweetness with leather, spice and vanilla notes. It is called miele amaro in Sardinia where it is popular and served with pecorino Sardo on pane carasau or over vanilla ice cream or white chocolate mousse.

BUCKWHEAT HONEY, bold dark rich cherries, malty beer, cardamom, wet leather with heightened minerality and a molasses-y mouthfeel, some find it rather barnyard-y. It pairs extremely well with a pungent yet creamy blue cheese such as Gorgonzola with its slightly grainy texture and robust flavour.

The Wild Bee Handbook by Sarah Wyndham Lewis is published by Hardie Grant.