Mead & Honey - the ultimate in Terroir

Terroir ­– that taste of place.

And a lovely French word that is used to describe how the environment influences a food or drink’s flavour – is commonly associated with wine. But when traceability and transparency is such a big part of food these days, this could easily be a point to make with honey – a food wrongly construed as a one-size-fits-all kind of deal. Which, if you grow up in Canada, you could be forgiven for not knowing any better. Because upon any one of the country’s supermarket shelves you will find the majority of it tastes sweet and that’s about it. This is due to the fact that the majority of the honey in this country comes from the prairies with their vast tracks of mono-cultural fields.

Most Canadian honey is white in colour, which has a mild but sweet taste. Primarily sourced from one of two major mono-crops (alfalfa or clover), it is pale gold in colour, almost white and has the clean, mild, traditional flavour that people associate with the honeys of childhood.  It comes in both creamed and liquid forms, with the creamed form known for its ‘fudge-like’ characteristics.  It’s a favourite for spreading on toast.  Which is all I had ever done with honey.

But when I moved to New Zealand and was exposed to artisan honey – my world was forever changed. New Zealand honeys are as wonderfully diverse and unique as the native trees and flowers they are made from.  It’s a $5 billion dollar industry and New Zealand beekeepers produce high-quality, mono-floral honeys with distinctive flavour profiles.  Not only do flavours differ across honey types, but there are also regional varieties caused by differences in climate, soil types and the natural diversity of floral types across New Zealand. And this is where the idea of place and honey converged.

Mānuka is the queen of New Zealand honeys, and finally begging to be well-known outside the country.  Its colour can range from dark cream to dark brown and it has a distinctive earthy mineral flavour.  It has also been described as woody or nutty in taste, with toffee notes. It is only one of the many that are produced in New Zealand. Many honeys are rich flavour, and quite complex while others still are delicate and nondescript.

Where flavours have been preserved, it really is an interesting thing. A variety of influences take place anywhere and everywhere up and down any country –and indeed the world. Pure oilseed rape honeys, for instance, come from that plant only, and tend to be creamy in colour and quite a hard honey. Borage is another one which people do as a pure honey, because the flower produces lots of nectar. It’s a very clear honey with a delicate almost buttery-sweet flavour. And another mono-floral variety I learned about while living in New Zealand: it was a favourite of mine for toast.

Each honey becomes a snapshot of its environment and the landscape and ecosystem it is harvested from. Completely dependent upon the varieties of flora local to any area and the industry of the bees collecting it. Rainfall, temperature and other environmental conditions can also affect flavour from year to year. Honey is the ultimate local food and reflects the terroir of the geography that the bee harvests the pollen from. It is an expression of place, just like wine, possibly more so.

Bees bring nectar and pollen from flowers to the hive and turn it into honey. The diversity of that forage determines the honey’s flavour. So California bees that harvest nectar from avocado blossoms produce honey with a rich, buttery flavour, while bees that forage from orange groves in Florida make light, sweet orange blossom honey.

The best place to look for honey varieties is at farmers markets, road-side farm stands, and specialty stores.

Honey is Terroir

Honey Varieties

Each region of the world has classic honey varietals. Here are a few of the worldly classics:

Tupelo honey hails from the United States and is somehow sweeter than other types of honey but with a lovely balanced mild flavour.

Macadamia nut honey from Australia has a distinctive sweet and nutty flavour with a lovely floral scent.

Heather honey from Scotland is pungent and almost bitter, in a good way. It's great with smoky things, or on wholesome baked goods.

Clover honey from Canada is classic honey that's light, sweet, and floral.

Acacia honey from the black locust tree or false acacia, is native to eastern North America and widely planted in Europe. It is very sweet with a clean, pure, classic honey flavour.

Buckwheat honey is believed to have originated in the area of Lake Baikal in Siberia, in the Himalayas, and in Manchuria.  to produce a special, strongly flavoured, dark memorable honey. It can range in colour from dark yellow to dark brown, with a slight reddish tinge. It has a sharp spicy aroma and taste with bitter tones. The scent of wood and clay is characteristic, with a powerful malty, molasses flavour.

Kiawe honey is one of the rarest honeys in the world hails from the Big Island, in Hawaii. This particular species of tree has been nearly wiped out in its native habitat, the Pacific coast deserts of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Kiawe honey is exceptionally unique because it naturally crystallizes into a silky smooth, creamy honey. It is white in color and has a very delicate flavour, unlike anything most people have ever tasted before.

Wild thyme honey is probably the most classic Greek honey. Its intense, aromatic flavour lends it to a wide range of culinary uses.Known historically as Hymettus Honey from Attica near Mt. Hymettus Greece and Hyblaean Honey from the Iblei (Hyblaean) Mountains of Sicily, it is still produced in both countries today. It makes a particularly aromatic mead.

Melipona bee honey is only found in the Yucatan in Mexico. It is a thick, sweet-sour liquid obtained from stingless bees of the genus Melipona.

To really experience these different flavours, you will need to look for raw or unpasteurized honey. Once heated through pasteurization, many of the flavour differences between the types of honey are lost and the product becomes simply sweet. Most honey purchases through beekeepers and farmer's markets are raw. You can also find raw honey at specialty stores and health food stores.

If you cannot find specific mono-floral varietals but you would like to come home with the local or regional “terroir” then your best bet is to get a wildflower honey. Wildflower honey is richly flavoured and specific to place. The specific wildflowers from which the bees got the nectar to make this honey will turn the flavour more delicate or intense. Honey truly is a taste of place. And mead is the transformation of a honey’s terrior into the liquid ambrosia in every bottle.

Note the bright orange filled pollen sacs on the bees hind legs.