By Julie Tomasz

RHAPSODIZED FOR MILLENNIA BY POETS, PROPHETS AND PHILOSOPHERS—not to mention Winnie the Pooh—honey is an ancient and prized food. Since being named one of the top ten food trends of 2006 by epicurious.com, honey is getting a renewed wave of attention in the media, the marketplace and in the mouths of specialty food consumers.

Artisanal Single-Origin Varietals
Mainstream honey is an established staple: According to the National Honey Board, 82 percent of U.S. households have honey in the pantry. But the current buzz is about artisanal single-source honeys, joining chocolate and olive oils as a new wave in the single-origin trend.

Unlike mass-market blends, these specialty honeys are traditionally made, all-natural varietals that are sourced from the nectar of one type of flower. Rather than foraging among numerous plants, resulting in the more common “wildflower” or “meadow” multifloral honeys, bees are restricted to just one kind of bloom. (This doesn’t occur through some magical or painful bee-training process, but by beekeepers’ monitoring what’s in bloom when and where, often transporting the bee hives from place to place.)

What you get is a mind-bogglingly diverse range of honeys—more than 300 distinct kinds in the U.S. alone, and hundreds more around the world. No two varietals are alike; each bears its own distinct profile of flavor, color and texture based on what flowers the bee visited on its honey-making mission. Factored in, too, is geography, and the variations in temperature and humidity that can affect—sometimes subtly, sometimes significantly—a honey’s final character. Call it the terroir of honey production: A honey sourced from orange blossoms in Florida is surprisingly different from one harvested in Sicily.

More Complex than Sweetness and Light
The average mass-market “squeeze-bear” honey is blended and extensively processed to achieve a uniform character that’s consistently sweet, light—and generic. But in the world of pure monofloral varietals, sweet and light are only part of the story. Flavors range from delicately sweet to full-bodied and bitter, with a broad spectrum of profiles in between rivaling olive oils and fine wines in their variety and complexity. A taste of rare Sardinian Corbezzolo honey, for example, reveals why it’s called the “truffle of honeys;” intense and bitter, it defies the traditional sweeten-your-tea honey profile, and instead is outstanding drizzled on pecorino and other aged cheeses. A heaping spoonful of popular lavender honey from Provence unveils its floral overtones and crystalline sweetness—a favorite embellishment to desserts as well as a stand-alone treat.

The same breadth occurs in appearance. Honey colors span a rainbow of gold and amber hues, from translucent, see-through-the-jar pale yellow to deep brown so dark it can be mistaken for molasses. For the most part, lighter colored honeys have milder flavors. And textures range from runny to creamy to crystalline solid. In fact, with a few rare exceptions, almost all honeys eventually crystallize, sometimes within hours of harvesting, other times within weeks or even years, depending on the varietal’s fructose content. This is normal—not a sign of the honey having “turned,” as many people believe. Most commercial honeys have been heated and filtered to remove crystallizing particles.

The rareness and unusualness of many monofloral honeys brings another layer of cachet to the category. For example, prized for its sweet, full flavor, Black Button Sage honey can only be produced three out of every ten years, due to the plant’s rare blooming pattern. And there’s an exotic thrill to tasting bold Leatherwood honey, sourced from an endangered tree in Tasmania that grows nowhere else on the planet.

Eco-Friendly and Sustainably Produced
Retail sales of specialty honeys are on the rise. People are intrigued by honey’s complexity and variety, but at the same time find it familiar and approachable. As Gauri Thergaonkar, retail manager of Zingerman’s Delicatessen in Ann Arbor, Mich., explains, “We’ve all grown up with honey in one form or another. Everyone knows honey as food.”

Shoppers are turning to artisanal honeys because they fit the “green” bill: They tend to be natural, eco-friendly, sustainably produced, fairly traded, and easily traceable. More and more raw, unfiltered honeys are appearing on the market, many certified organic and kosher.

Sales are strong of locally produced honeys, as well. Steven Rosenberg, chief eating officer of Liberty Heights Fresh in Salt Lake City, says that a honey sourced from a flowering meadow just a few miles from his store outsells the number-two honey two to one. At the same time, vying for second place is a raw honey from Zambia whose sales support local sustainable development—appealing to those also interested in aiding the “global community.”

Health is another draw. Rosenberg notes that health-conscious consumers are putting more effort into avoiding high-fructose corn sweeteners. “They’re seeking natural sugars, and there’s no natural sugar that’s as healthy as honey,” he says. And as current scientific research unfolds, there’s increasing talk of honey’s abundant health benefits: It’s an unusually rich source of carbohydrate energy; contains a wide range of antioxidants, amino acids, vitamins and minerals; alleviates hay fever and other pollen allergies; and has antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties.

The Active-Selling Factor
Most retailers merchandise honeys much like they do preserves, but because there’s so much more to specialty honeys than what the average user knows, education through active selling is key. Holding formal tastings, keeping jars open for floor sampling, educating staff, and posting product information and serving ideas can drive sales. As Thergaonkar explains, it’s all about getting honey novices through the four stages of awareness: “from ‘It’s nothing like the stuff in the squeeze bear’ to ‘I had no idea that honeys could be so different’ to ‘what makes a honey crystalline versus creamy versus liquid?’ to ‘what can I do with this honey at home?’”

A particular challenge to retailers is to sell the honeys once they’ve crystallized. Educating customers that crystallized honey is its purest, normal state—and that briefly heating the jar in warm tap water loosens the honey into liquid form—can take time. As an interim approach, Bi-Rite Market in San Francisco has a local supplier periodically switch out honeys that have crystallized for those still in liquid form. The supplier then takes the crystallized jars to local farmer’s markets, where more adventurous and honey-savvy shoppers snatch them up.

Sweet and Savory Enjoyment
There are countless ways, both sweet and savory, to enjoy varietal honeys—entire cookbooks are devoted to the subject. Many specialty honeys come with serving suggestions based on their particular flavor profile, much like wine is paired with certain foods. Most are delicious served with fruits and Marcona almonds or poured over ice cream or yogurt, but come especially alive when drizzled onto tangy blue cheeses, pecorino, and other aged cheeses. Lighter, floral honeys are perfect trickled into tea or blended into smoothies. Darker, more full-flavored honeys make out-of-the-ordinary glazes for scallops, fish and pork tenderloin, and are alternative sweeteners in cookies and other baked goods. But for truly discerning and savoring a honey’s complex taste, it doesn’t get much better than the old-school way: amply spooned onto hot buttered toast.

Specialty honey’s future looks promising as the category continues to carve out its niche. As more people learn about the varieties and complexities, Thergaonkar sees artisanal honeys someday occupying a place similar to that of olive oils with specialty food consumers. Zingerman’s Co-owner Ari Weinzweig concurs: “Once you get people to slow down enough to taste the delicacy and nuances of real honey, they never go back.”

Julie Tomasz is a contributor to Sunset magazine, the London Times and Fodor’s Travel Publications.