Which honey is best?

The world of honey can be confusing with so many different honeys out there, all with varying flavours and colours. But the best honey is truly a personal choice. Here’s a quick buying guide of how to find the perfect honey to suit your palette.

Sweetness

From very sweet honeys that are almost floral in flavour, to the honeys that have woody notes, scaling the shelves to find the right honey can be confusing. As a general rule, the lighter the colour of the honey the sweeter it is. If you have a sweet tooth, try Orelia Honey Co’s New Zealand Wild Clover Honey. A mild and creamy honey with undertones of vanilla. Orelia honeys are curated with taste in mind. Their global honeys vary in colour and sweetness, and are picked to offer notes of flavour from their individual monofloral genus. Each jar of honey in this range has a number on the front relating to the sweetness and flavour of the honey inside. From the very sweet, to the subtle sweetness, there’s a taste curated for you. Not a fan of the sweet stuff? Try Autumn, by London Honey Co, for a rich, woody flavoured honey perfect for marinades or with your favourite salty cheese. London Honey Co have been leading the way in urban beekeeping since 1999. Still to this day, the team bottle their honey under a railway arch in Bermondsey, South-east London. They also have hives on top of some of the most iconic London buildings including Fortnum & Mason and The Tate museums. You'll also find London Honey Co stocked in the likes of Selfridges, F&M, Highgrove. Their seasonal range also  showcases the best of the Spring and Summer landscapes.

Flavours

If you’re looking try something a little different than your usual honey, try exploring the world of flavoured honeys. Flavoured honeys are created by the bees only foraging from certain flowers. For example, Lavender honey contains the nectar from lavender that tastes sweet with a floral aroma. Try Alemany Lavender Honey sourced from a small village in Spain where lavender grows in the wild. Alemany are a specialist in the production of unpasteurised honeys. They sell honeys from their own hives, as well as sourcing the best regional honeys produced all over Spain. Unpasteurised honeys have been recognised for their health-giving properties for thousands of years. Explore the rest of the Alemany range including rosemary and chestnut. Love it or hate it, coriander honey is something to experience. Try Hilltop Honey’s Bulgarian Coriander honey, it’s is perfect drizzled on a salad or added to a herbal tea. Hilltop honey have travelled the world to carefully select, source and share the most unique flavours. Save yourself the air miles and take your taste buds on a journey through this delectable honey selection. Explore the rest of the Hilltop honey from around the world like the Organic Brazilian Mountain honey. Or if you’re looking for something closer to home, Hilltop Honey have created a British Blossom honey that is packed full of nectar from blossoms from all over the British countryside.

Upgrade your honey

Honey has been used for centuries, even the Romans used honey to pay their taxes instead of gold! But, Manuka honey is thought as the real liquid gold thanks to its enhanced health benefits. Although more expensive, Manuka honey continues to be known for benefits such as aiding sore throats and supporting general wellness thanks to a ‘secret ingredient’. MGO (or methylglyoxal) boosts Manuka up the rankings thanks to its profile of anti-bacterial properties. Try Egmonts Manuka Honey and explore the different MGO ratings to reap the benefits. Egmont Honey is family run business based in New Zealand started when James bought a hive for his dad in 2008. Fast forward a few years, they proudly have 4,000 hives and export to 18 different countries around the world. But as they've expanded, they haven't lost their unique ability to trace each jar back to the hive that it came from. They're also one of the first honey brands to have pots made of 100% recycled plastic too! Buy Honey Last updated: 13th February 2020