Fir honeydew honey

Miel de sapin (miellat)

What it is

Fir honey comes from no flower at all: aphids drink the tree's sap, void the excess as honeydew on the needles, and the bees collect that. Carrying almost no glucose, it stays liquid for years — and since the flow depends on an insect that may or may not appear, whole seasons pass with no crop.

In the kitchen

Use it where the resin is the point — a spoon in a marinade for game, or over a young sheep cheese — and keep it out of anything delicate, which it will bury. Barely sweet, it does not swap one for one with acacia honey in baking.

Goes with

Comté Walnut Venison Rye berries Pear Blue cheese

In season alongside

Bog myrtle Crowberry Curry plant Labrador tea Lavender flowers Savory

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