Us cows are not known for the consumption of alcohol (don’t believe what you see on YouTube), but we do enjoy the taste of honey.

Recently we had the chance to visit an outlet for many of the amazing honey’s produced here in Australia. Now we are not talking about supermarket honey, which is mass produced, mixed together and served up in different coloured jars, to make you think they are different products. No, we went to a place that had no less than 20 different honeys, each as individual as the last. In the end, four were selected, and here is a review of their tastes.

First of all is the Tasmanian Leatherwood. Their blurb is: Tasmanian Leatherwood Distinctively floral like malt flavoured Scotch whisky

This honey is a personal favourite. So despite it being well tested here in the barn, it certainly was on the shopping list. Leatherwood is a honey that many people have a love/hate relationship with. It’s a very strong and bold flavour, with an almost relative bitter bite, but it adds to the richness of the honey, you can really taste the wood aromas, like a freshly chopped stack of wood, sitting next to the fireplace.

Next is the Tasmanian Christmas Bush. Their blurb is: Blank. No review at all.

For me, Christmas Bush is a honey like no other honey I have ever tasted. Such a wonderful smell, texture and taste. It’s a really light weight honey, not too sharp on the sugar, but then you get a kind of lemony mint kick from it a few seconds after eating.

Next we move on to Banksia, which they describe as: Nothing at all.

With Banksia, the taste began even before I open the jar. Banksia is a much darker colour than the other honeys. There is a hint of roasted tomatoes in the aroma, the flavour is very mellow, but hard to pinpoint a particular taste. It is kind of like the honey you would give someone as a step up from a mass mixed honey, and before they realised it, they would be enjoying the taste of a fine product  You can sort of taste freshly picked peas, eaten straight from the pod, while a field of flowers send out their aroma from a nearby field.

Finally we move on to the Spotted Gum. Which does have a description, which reads: Strong distinctive caramel flavour.

With Spotted Gum, the aroma is one of a honey that has already been cooked. It’s a taste you would enjoy on crumpets on a cold winter day, or mixed into a lemon juice brew. It’s a playful taste, but not with out character. Another fine honey to cook with, and one that would go just as well between two slices of bread for a school lunch, or equally as well glazing a ham for Christmas lunch. With Spotted Gum, about the only use you couldn’t find for it, is attaching heat plates to a space shuttle.

So there’s the reviews, and we’re more than happy to hear from you with your honey suggestions.