Varietal Honey
Lexikon
Varietal honey refers to honey that predominantly originates from one particular plant species and may therefore be sold under a botanical name such as rapeseed honey, acacia honey or lime honey.
Varietal honey refers to honey that predominantly originates from one particular plant species and may therefore be sold under a botanical name such as rapeseed honey, acacia honey or lime honey. The Honey Regulation requires for this that the honey put into jars predominantly originates from the named flowering plants and displays the corresponding sensory, microscopic and physicochemical characteristics of that plant, so that a mere claim on the label is not sufficient.
Whether a honey actually corresponds to a particular variety is checked in practice through a combination of several methods. These include the sensory examination of colour, smell and taste, physicochemical parameters such as electrical conductivity or the ratio of fructose to glucose, and above all microscopic pollen analysis. The German Honey Guidelines (Leitsätze) set their own minimum shares of certain pollen for many varieties, which can vary greatly depending on the plant, because some flowering species produce very much or very little pollen relative to the actual amount of nectar collected.
A common mistake when classifying varietal honey is to equate the pollen share in the honey directly with the share of that plant in the nectar flow. Some plants such as black locust or lavender are markedly underrepresented in honey, so that even a comparatively low pollen share is enough for a genuine varietal determination, while other plants such as rapeseed are strongly overrepresented and therefore very high pollen shares in the honey are to be expected without the actual share of the nectar flow being any higher.