Miel wallon

Miel wallon is honey with an EU protected geographical indication (PGI) from Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium. It is a fully crystallised, creamy honey with very fine crystals: spreadable but not pourable. It may be multifloral, monofloral or honeydew.

The monofloral types are rapeseed, fruit trees, phacelia, dandelion, bramble, willow, linden, clover and privet. Water is at most 18 % and HMF at most 20 mg/kg; at least 95 % of crystals are 0.20 mm or smaller. Hives must stand in Wallonia, be managed and wintered there, and the honey collected there. Extraction and packing must take place in the EU; retail jars hold at most 500 g.

The texture comes from controlled crystallisation: after filtering and settling, beekeepers cool the honey to about 14 °C, stir it at intervals and, for slow honeys, seed it with 10 to 15 % very finely crystallised local honey. The method grew from observations since the late 19th century and was developed by the centre CARI from 1983 and PROMIEL from 1992. Rapeseed and dandelion honey crystallise fast and hard, bramble and clover slowly and coarsely, so control evens out the texture.

Why this matters to you: the jar must show the type of honey, a best-before date and a batch number. The smooth spread comes from technique, not additives. More in Crystallisation of honey and Polyfloral honey.