Honey Tasting with The Honey Ladies
Honey Tasting 101: A Flight of Honey
Start your local honey tasting exploration here
RASPBERRY BLOSSOM HONEY
Color: Light amber
Tasting notes: Mild, fresh, creamy, with a little tart note; has just a hint of raspberry essence.
SOUR LIME INFUSED HONEY STICKS
Color: light with a yellow hue
Tasting notes: Lime-infused honey offers kids of all ages a chance to enjoy a fresh lick of a honey limesicle.
SAGE BLOSSOM HONEY
Color: Clear to pale amber
Tasting notes: Mild, delicate, nearly flavorless honey; most like a simple syrup, making it great for drinks and baking.
BLACKBERRY BLOSSOM HONEY
Color: Light amber
Tasting notes: Sweet, essence of berry, balanced; a top seller as it is most like “classic” honey.
SOUR CHERRY INFUSED HONEY STICKS
Color: Bright red (infused) Tasting notes: Pucker up—this sour cherry honey is great served over vanilla ice cream, a kid favorite.
BLUEBERRY BLOSSOM HONEY
Color: Light to medium amber
Tasting notes: Super sweet, rich, complex, berry aftertaste; its high sugar content makes it crystallize faster than some of the other honeys.
AVOCADO BLOSSOM HONEY
Color: Dark amber
Tasting notes: Rich, creamy, buttery; a decadent blend with tones of burnt sugar and molasses.
Staff favorite
CHERRY BLOSSOM HONEY (available, but not shown)
Color: Light amber
Tasting notes: Distinctive fruity, sweet-tangy, warm taste—to some taste buds, cherry notes with an almond aftertaste; limited supply, but always in demand.
ORANGE BLOSSOM HONEY
Color: Very light orange-amber
Tasting notes: Bright, light floral, fragrant citrus essence; a favorite to pair with any cheese.
Staff runner up
Not all honey tastes the same. Natural local honey draws its ingredients and flavors from the nectar of whichever flowers the bees happen to be pollinating. Many honeys are a blend of flower nectars, producing diverse and varied flavors—think wildflower honey, meadow honey and a host of regionally named honeys you see in farmers markets. Honey can even change from batch to batch, based on the vegetation surrounding the hives, the time of the year it is harvested and the weather and water supply.
If bees in a hive pollinate a specific flower, plant or grove, you get a “single-varietal” honey with distinct flavors and aromas all its own. Honey comes in a surprising array of flavors these days—from a rich, dark, buttery avocado honey that carries a molasses note to the light, floral, citrus essence that delights the senses in an orange blossom honey. (This is nothing like what you get in those little honey bear bottles.) We wanted to taste some of the single-varietal honeys available in our region, so, of course, we headed to the expert Honey Ladies of Los Gatos, who have a wide selection of honeys to try from the over 5,000 honey hives they manage in this area. We sampled honeys that showcased a single blossom or flavor. But we couldn’t resist adding a few of their ingredient-infused honeys—sour cherry and lime—to our tasting.
Here’s a head start on exploring sweet ingredient taste sensations and finding favorite flavors you’ll be buzzing about this season.
