How to Taste Honey?
Describing the science of honey in its granular, molecular description would steal the sensory experience that honey is. So in this brief conversation we try taking you on a journey rather than explaining how to taste honey.
It may sound like a silly question, taste honey?
Of course you know honey, it is sweet. You’ve often added this golden liquid to your brews and puddings, maybe even on slices of bread for breakfast. So what can we tell you that you don’t already know?
Well, if you are getting that curious, let’s dive right into it. If you were standing in front of bottles full of these warm colored solutions, it would surprise you that original, unadulterated, unprocessed honey has layers of flavors, colors and smell. It is a concoction of subtleties and different varieties. It is rarely perfectly clear or transparent. A little fogginess means that it hasn’t undergone filtration that would remove pollen and nutrients.
To fully experience honey, you can break the sensory experiences into:
Color
Smell
And Taste
***Did you know, learning the vocabulary about how to explain your experience of honey will actually enrich and bring depth to your perception. Educating your senses can help you understand what you like.***
Taste:
Honey can be described using the French word, Terroir, which means soil. But in today’s day and age, it is commonly used to describe the flavor profile of wine, olive, rice and also honey. Various environmental factors such as sunshine, rainfall, temperature fluctuations and host of other variables affect the flavor profile of honey by affecting which flowers bloom and the quality of its nectar. This affects the overall composition and ultimately determines the unique character of each variety of Honey.
Good honey will have layers of flavors. Although, most honey is predominantly sweet, not all are. Some honey may be bitter and some tart as well. You can experience multiple taste notes in honey like floral, grassy, woody, caramel, herbal, medicinal and fruity.
The unique characteristic of single origin honey(honey made from nectar of one type of flower), will have a distinguishable taste. You can identify the reminiscence of the plant in the honey.
Honey connoisseurs suggest the following steps to truly experience the taste of honey.
Warm the honey if possible and take a small almond sized scoop.
You can try smelling its fragrance for an added layer of experience.
Take this scoop in your mouth and rub it between your tongue and roof of your mouth to let it dissolve. Enjoy the preliminary sweetness and the exquisite unique flavor.
Take another teaspoon and this time,swirl it around, let it wash all the walls in your mouth.
As you keep your mouth closed, breathe out and count all the different flavors you can identify.
Try taking another scoop and repeat the process to experience different notes of aroma and flavor. You can try categorizing them.
After you’ve experienced honey’s raw indulgent flavor, you can also experiment pairing it with different food. Eucalyptus honey, for example, pairs really well with a soothing chamomile tea or ginger lemon.
Word of caution: Do not heat honey to a high temperature. It is recommended that you add honey to food once the food is cool enough for your skin. Try following the way baby milk is checked for temperature.
Check out our collection of single origin honey and find your favorite. You can find a brief description of their aroma and flavor profile on our shop as well. See if you experience it like we did and share your experience with us.
Happy Tasting!