Meadow honey

Meadow honey comes from many flowers at once: bees work the plants of meadows and pastures, and no single species leads. The flora shifts from place to place and season to season, so colour, aroma and flavour change between sites and years. The EU honey directive gives it no definition of its own: meadow honey is a trade name.

Researchers speak of wildflower honey when a large number of species contribute and none prevails. A jar may carry a plant's name only if that plant supplied all or most of the honey and the honey shows that plant's typical taste, chemistry and pollen picture. Meadow honey does not pass this test, which is why it is named after a landscape rather than a flower.

What can such a mix contain? The protected Miel — Marque nationale du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg names its sources: dandelion, meadowsweet, melilot, white clover, bird's-foot trefoil and the blossom of fruit trees, and it sets firm. Around Belluno in the Italian Dolomites, a province home to more than 2,200 plant species, the protected Miele delle Dolomiti Bellunesi includes a wildflower type.

Studies of Alpine wildflower honey note that where woodland spreads over meadows and pastures, bees lose part of their forage.

Why this matters to you: two jars of meadow honey, even from one beekeeper, may taste different, and that is normal. The name points to a landscape, not a plant, so the country and region of harvest on the label are the useful clues; do not expect it to taste like acacia honey or any other monofloral honey.