Fruit blossom honey

Fruit blossom honey is a monofloral honey from the nectar of orchard trees in bloom – apple, pear, plum and cherry. Apple honey is harvested as a single-flower honey in the British Isles, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, France and Scandinavia, and stone-fruit (Prunus) honey is known across the EU.

Miel wallon, the protected honey of Wallonia in Belgium, has a separate "fruit tree honey" type. It must contain more than 40 % fruit-tree pollen, is pale to straw-coloured, smells faintly to moderately fruity with green notes and tastes of warm caramel, dried plants and a hint of fruit. It conducts electricity only weakly, at 0.20–0.50 mS/cm, with fructose and glucose in a ratio of 0.95–1.35. Like all Walloon honey, it sets with fine to imperceptible crystals into a creamy, spreadable texture.

Fruit trees bloom early, so their nectar also goes into spring honey; in Alsace the blossom honeys come from fruit trees, meadow shrubs and field crops.

Why this matters to you: fruit blossom honey is light and creamy; a protected name such as Miel wallon tells you exactly which pollen and taste to expect.