Honeydew Honey (Forest Honey): Made From Sap, Not Flowers
Honeydew honey, often sold as forest honey, pine honey or fir honey, is honey that bees make without flowers. Instead of nectar, they collect honeydew, the sugary liquid left on trees by sap-feeding insects such as aphids. The result is dark, less sweet and more mineral-tasting than flower honey, and it is prized in Germany, Greece, Turkey and much of Europe. This guide explains how it is made, how it tastes and how it differs from blossom honey.
How honeydew honey is made
Aphids, scale insects and similar insects feed on tree sap, which is rich in sugar but low in the protein they need. They excrete the excess sugar as droplets called honeydew, which collect on needles and leaves. When nectar is scarce, honey bees gather this honeydew and process it in the hive just as they process nectar.
The best-known honeydew honeys come from conifer forests: pine honey from Turkey and Greece, where a scale insect on Turkish red pine produces large flows, and fir and spruce honey from the Black Forest in Germany and the Alps. Oak and beech honeydew are also harvested in parts of Europe.
What honeydew honey tastes like
Honeydew honey is dark, often reddish-brown to nearly black, sometimes with a greenish sheen. It tastes less sweet than flower honey, with woody, malty, resinous and slightly savory notes, and sometimes a hint of caramel. Pine honey is relatively mild and smooth; fir honey is darker and more intense. It usually stays liquid for a long time.
| Honeydew honey | Blossom honey | |
|---|---|---|
| Source | Insect honeydew on trees | Flower nectar |
| Color | Dark amber to black | White to dark, depends on flower |
| Sweetness | Less sweet | Sweeter |
| Minerals | Higher | Lower on average |
| Crystallizes | Very slowly | Varies, often faster |
How it is different inside
Honeydew honey contains less glucose and fructose and more complex sugars than flower honey, plus more minerals, which is why it has higher electrical conductivity, a measure labs use to tell it apart. It also contains fewer pollen grains, since bees did not visit flowers. These differences give it a distinct place in international honey standards.
Is honeydew honey kosher or vegan?
Because honeydew honey comes from insect secretions, some kosher authorities, including the OU, treat it differently from blossom honey; see is honey kosher. Vegans who avoid honey generally avoid honeydew honey too; see is honey vegan.
How to use it, and our closest honeys
Honeydew honey is excellent on dark bread, in tea, with aged cheeses and in spiced baking. We do not sell honeydew honey; all our honeys are blossom honeys. For a dark, robust jar with woody depth, try our Knotweed or Buckwheat honey.
Where honeydew honey is made
Honeydew honey depends on the right insects being on the right trees in large numbers, so it is concentrated in a few regions. Turkey is one of the largest producers of pine honey, much of it from the Aegean coast around Mugla. Greece produces pine honey on Thassos, Evia and in Halkidiki, and fir honey in the Peloponnese. Germany's Black Forest, Switzerland, Austria and parts of France make fir and spruce honeydew honey, and New Zealand produces a honeydew honey from beech forests on the South Island.
Honeydew flows are unpredictable because insect populations rise and fall with the weather. A strong year can bring large harvests, and a weak one almost none. In the US, honeydew honey is less common, though bees will collect honeydew from oaks and other trees in late summer and mix it into their fall honey.
Sources
- The Kosher Honey Story · Orthodox Union (OU Kosher)
Frequently asked questions
- Is honeydew honey made from honeydew melons?
- No. The name refers to honeydew, the sugary liquid produced by sap-feeding insects on trees, which bees collect instead of nectar.
- What is forest honey?
- Forest honey is a common name for honeydew honey from trees such as pine, fir, oak or beech.
- What does honeydew honey taste like?
- Less sweet than flower honey, with woody, malty and resin-like flavors.
- Does honeydew honey crystallize?
- Very slowly, because it contains less glucose than most blossom honeys.
- Is pine honey a honeydew honey?
- Yes. Pine honey from Greece and Turkey is made from honeydew produced by a scale insect on pine trees.
Al Safa Honey is a food producer, not a medical provider. Nothing here is medical advice. Never give honey of any kind to a baby under 12 months old.
