Blueberry Blossom Honey

It's not what most people expect. Blueberry Blossom Honey is intensely sweet with a buttery richness and genuine fruity undertones, but the fruitiness comes from the blossom rather than the berry, so it reads more concentrated and less jammy than you might anticipate. There's a smooth finish with a faint tangy note underneath. Most customers taste it straight from the jar first and find it more complex than any honey they've had before. Then they start looking for excuses to use it.

Most honey sold as "blueberry honey" is wildflower honey with blueberry flavoring added after the fact. Ours is a true monofloral, made by bees foraging almost exclusively from blueberry blossoms during a two-to-three week spring bloom in New Jersey's wild blueberry fields. No added flavors, no infusions, no shortcuts. The fruity, buttery character in the jar comes entirely from the nectar the bees collected. That's what makes this taste like something specific rather than something generic.

From New Jersey's wild northern high-bush blueberry fields, where migratory beekeepers time their hive placements with precision. Blueberry bushes bloom for only two to three weeks in spring, and that narrow window is the entire opportunity. Beekeepers move their hives in just before the bloom opens, the bees work the small white bell-shaped flowers exclusively, and the hives come out as soon as the bloom closes. Miss the window by a week and the honey simply does not exist that year.

It earns its place anywhere the flavor can actually register. Use it as a glaze for salmon, chicken, or pork (the fruity character concentrates beautifully as it caramelizes). On a cheese board it shines next to blue cheese, goat cheese, and aged cheddar. It works in smoothies where the berry undertones reinforce the fruit, and in baked goods like blueberry muffins where the honey and the fruit pull in the same direction. Used as a background sweetener where the flavor can't show up, you aren't getting what you paid for.

Crystallization is what raw, minimally filtered honey does. It is not spoilage, not a defect, and not a sign that anything has gone wrong. Most varieties will start to set within a few months, depending on the floral source and the temperature of your kitchen. To return it to a pourable state, place the sealed jar in a bowl of warm (not boiling) water for a few minutes and stir gently. Skip the microwave, which can scorch the natural enzymes and aromatic compounds that make raw honey worth buying in the first place.

Keep your honey at room temperature, away from direct sunlight, with the lid screwed on tight. A pantry shelf or cabinet works beautifully. Honey is one of the few foods that does not spoil, so there is no need to refrigerate it. In fact, the cold will speed up crystallization. If your jar does begin to set, that is normal and easily reversed with a warm water bath. Use a clean, dry spoon every time, and your honey will hold its character for years.