In this post we look at various types of honey in India. Varietal honey is honey, which is mostly collected from a particular type of flower. For example, if a bee colony collects most of its honey from a nearby blossoming field of sunflowers, the honey they collect will be sunflower honey. Based on which flower the nectar comes from, the flavour profile of honey changes dramatically!
Jamun Honey
Jamun (also known as Indian blueberry) is an evergreen tropical sweet and sour fruit. and the honey made from the nectar in its blossoms, is Jamun honey.
A spicy variety, that sits on your tongue with its full weight, and grounds you with its earthiness and petrichor. When fermented, all this serious aroma finds its way out and creates a mouthwatering anticipation that is justified by the taste of the mead.
You will get to taste what it translates to in Jamun variety Meads, like our Jamun Melomel and a metheglin, that we are keeping under wraps for now!
The abounding crates of jamun fruits in the image are from Aakeri, Sindhudurg District in West Maharashtra, India. This specific variety has the smallest seed and sweetest taste.
Lychee Honey
Did you know that India is the second largest producer of lychees after China where this delicious fruit originated?
A very playful honey that is easy to identify due to its closeness to the actual lychee fruit. It is collected mainly on the plains of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, where lychee plantations are abundant.
This honey is light on the tongue with a refreshing sweetness, almost like marshmallows and a hint of citrus fruits. It ferments very well with hard fruits like pomegranate, and that is why it was our favourite when we made our Pomegranate Melomel, a quintessential blend of the playful lychee and exhilarating pomegranate.
Coriander Honey
Coriander is an annual herb, every part of which is edible. And what’s more, the tiny flowers hold enough nectar for the bees to make honey from.
Fun fact about coriander is, not everyone perceives it’s taste the same. Based on the genetic make up of the taster, coriander tastes different to different people.
But luckily that’s not the case with coriander honey. This fun honey is very very sweet, but it is also superbly spicy, citrusy and just lip smacking!
We haven’t yet decided what we want to pair if with! So, we invite all you flavour masters to come to the meadery, taste this honey and of course our refreshing Meads, and join a historic recipe in the making.
Ajwain honey
Ajwain, Ajowan, Carom, Bishop’s weed is known by many names. This spice is from the same family as coriander.
Honey from its nectar is one of the most complex honeys that are found in India. Every drop of this honey will coat your tongue with more and more flavours which largely fall into the spicy earthy section of the flavour circle.
Once the sugars are fermented out, there’s still so much that is left in this honey that we feel this would be the honey that in future we would use for our traditional meads.
Sidr Honey or Wild Berry Honey
Sidr honey is collected in northern desert part of Rajasthan from wild berry or jujube trees.
This seasonal honey, is known to speed up wound healing, has antimicrobial properties and is believed to slow down some types of cancer!
But that’s all science, what is it like to ferment this honey? Well…
We fondly call this honey, “Mithai Honey”. It tastes just like a Mithai (Rich Indian Sweets). This has a rich mouthfeel with a taste similar to milk based sweets like barfis.
This honey makes a good addition for any type of mead where it can act as a solid background and let the other ingredients shine through.
Wildflower Honey
This by far is our favourite honey because it’s a pure gold value addition from an otherwise wasted resource, wild flowers!
Bees help in making more robust seeds for a stronger generation of plants that grow out in the wild. Nature at its best!
This honey is a multifloral honey and made from nectar of varied flowers present in any geographic location. And that’s what makes it difficult to describe. Every geographical location in every season, will change its flora and that will change the honey that is collected there.
Wild flower honey will not only change in its flavour from one place to the other, but it will also change at a single place from season to season!
We hope this post gives you a sense of why mead making is so interesting and how the quality and types of honey in India allows us to produce our premium meads with Indian flavours.
