Buckwheat honey
Apis mellifera (Fagopyrum esculentum nectar) · Sweetener
Top 10 pairings
Buckwheat honey is the monofloral honey bees make from the blossoms of buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum), and it is one of the darkest, most robust honeys there is — deep molasses-brown to almost black in the jar. Where pale acacia or clover honey is delicate, light and floral, buckwheat honey is malty, earthy and strongly mineral, with an almost savoury depth and a lingering, slightly barnyard finish. It is the honey for people who find ordinary honey too mild, and its dark colour tracks a genuinely high load of antioxidant phenolics and minerals.
Picking a good onedrag
Bright, clean, purely floralFrothing, winey, fizzing
Open in the cupboardEveryday honeyNever give honey to a baby under 12 months, not even baked, warmed or cooked.
Hold the jar to the lightFaint haze or first fine crystals
Turn the jar and lift a spoonfulSo thick a spoon stands a moment
Lid, seal and labelSound jar, country but no blossom
Smell it off a clean spoonFaint and delicate: acacia, clover
These cues are Honey's, and hold across its varieties; where this one differs, its own page says so.