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Different Kinds of Honey

Supermarkets carry all kinds of honey (clover, buckwheat, tupelo, etc.). Some are quite expensive. What’s the difference? 

Supermarkets carry all kinds of honey (clover, buckwheat, tupelo, etc.). Some are quite expensive. What’s the difference?

The raw material that bees use to produce honey is nectar, a sweet liquid created by plants for the purpose of attracting pollinating birds and insects. Most honeys are made from the nectar of many different flowers, but there are some “monofloral” varieties made in controlled environments from the nectar of a single type of flower. The flavor and chemical makeup of honey depend on the nectar that it’s made from. Are the different kinds interchangeable in the kitchen? 

To find out, we tasted four varieties of honey—three monoflorals (tupelo, orange blossom, and buckwheat) as well as wildflower honey—three different ways: plain, in tea, and baked into honey cake. In the plain and tea tastings, we found tupelo honey to be subtly floral and piney. Orange blossom was thicker and slightly less sweet, with a perfumed aroma and a flavor that one taster likened to an orange Popsicle. Wildflower honey bowled us over with its flowery flavor and aroma, which one taster compared to “fancy soaps,” and buckwheat honey was dark, “malty,” “robust,” “barnyard-y,” and “ molasses-y,” according to various tasters. As for the honey cake tasting, all honeys were fine, save one. Buckwheat honey has an uncommonly high protein content; the protein reacts with the sugar, producing the dark pigments, toasty aromas, and signature bold flavor. The flavor of buckwheat honey is so strong that some tasters didn’t care for it in the honey cake. 

THE BOTTOM LINE: Try different varieties of honey to determine what you like. Strongly flavored varieties like buckwheat honey can be too assertive for many recipes—save these honeys for your tea.

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