Organic Linden Honey - RAWGORILLA - 750g

Linden honey is the one people become loyal to. Ask anyone who grew up in Central or Eastern Europe which honey they would choose and this is usually the answer.

Linden honey, lime blossom honey, lime flower honey — all the same thing

Worth clearing up first, because the names cause endless confusion. The tree is Tilia, called linden across most of Europe and lime in Britain. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the citrus fruit. So linden honey, lime blossom honey and lime flower honey are three names for one honey.

Raw and unheated

Most honey on a supermarket shelf has been warmed — commonly to around 70°C — because hot honey filters faster, pours faster and takes longer to crystallise. What that costs you is the enzymes, and with an aromatic honey like this one it costs you the aroma too.

This honey is raw. It goes from comb to jar without pasteurisation or heat treatment, which is also why it will crystallise sooner than processed honey. A set jar is a feature of raw honey, not a fault.

What linden honey tastes like

Light amber, sometimes with a greenish-yellow cast that is characteristic of the variety. The aroma is intense, fresh and floral with distinctly herbal, faintly menthol notes — you will smell it the moment the lid comes off. The taste is rich and properly sweet with a long, aromatic, slightly herbal finish. Once you have had good linden honey, ordinary blended honey tastes rather flat.

Where that flavour comes from

Lime trees flower for a short spell in early summer, and anyone who has walked past one in bloom knows the scent — heavy, sweet and unmistakable. The honey carries those volatile aromatic compounds straight through from flower to jar.

Which leads to a practical point. Those aroma compounds are volatile and heat-sensitive, as are honey’s natural enzymes. Diastase and invertase degrade with heat, and HMF — the standard freshness marker written into honey legislation — rises the more a honey is heated or aged. So if you are stirring linden honey into a hot drink, let the water stand for a minute. Below around 40°C you keep both the aroma and the enzymes intact.

How to use organic linden honey

• In tea. The classic pairing, and the reason most people buy it.
• In warm milk. Particularly good last thing at night.
• With dairy. Spooned over ricotta, rice pudding or thick yoghurt.
• With cheese. It has enough personality to stand up to a blue.
• Glazes. Brushed over roast carrots, parsnips or squash in the last ten minutes.
• Baking. Its aromatic character survives the oven, which makes it excellent in gingerbread, honey cake and medovik.

Where this organic linden honey comes from

Single-origin Bulgaria, one producer, certified organic beekeeping — not a multi-country blend. Most supermarket honey carries the phrase “a blend of EU and non-EU honeys”, which is legally compliant and practically meaningless: it tells you nothing about origin, producer or season.

Certified organic under Regulation (EU) 2018/848, body BG-BIO-02, produced at a plant registered with the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BG2515003) operating to GMP guidelines. Organic beekeeping rules cover forage within a 3 km radius of the hives, the materials the hives are made from, a ban on synthetic chemical repellents during extraction, and a requirement to leave colonies enough honey and pollen to overwinter on.

How we prove it is real linden honey

Single-variety honeys are the ones most worth faking, because they command the highest prices. The European Commission’s coordinated testing action of 2021–22 found 46% of imported honey consignments — 147 of 320 — suspicious for sugar-syrup adulteration.

Every batch of this honey is checked by NMR profiling, stable isotope analysis (IRMS), pollen analysis to confirm the honey really is predominantly linden, and HPLC sugar profiling. Residue testing returns “not detected” for glyphosate, pesticides, heavy metals and the full antibiotic panel.

Frequently asked questions

What does raw honey actually mean?

That the honey has not been pasteurised or heat-treated on its way from the comb to the jar. Most commercial honey is warmed so it filters and pours more easily and stays runny longer. Heating degrades honey’s natural enzymes and, in an aromatic honey like linden, drives off the volatile compounds that give it its character.

Is linden honey the same as lime honey?

Tilia is called linden in most of Europe and lime in Britain. Linden honey, lime honey, lime blossom honey and lime flower honey all mean the same thing — and none of them involve the citrus fruit.

Why does linden honey smell slightly minty?

That is characteristic of the variety. The specification describes “herbal and slightly menthol notes”, which come from the volatile aroma compounds in lime blossom.

Should I put linden honey in boiling water?

Better not to. Heat drives off the aromatic compounds that make linden honey distinctive and degrades its natural enzymes. Let your tea stand for a minute first.

Does linden honey crystallise?

Yes, forming fine to medium crystals. That is normal and fully reversible — warm water restores it. Storing at 20–22°C slows it; 11–16°C accelerates it considerably.

What does linden honey taste like compared to wildflower?

Much more aromatic and distinctive. Wildflower honey is balanced and gently floral; linden is intense, fresh and herbal with a long finish. If you find ordinary honey bland, this is the one.

Is honey suitable for vegans?

No. Honey is an animal product.

Can I give honey to my baby?

No. Honey should never be given to infants under 12 months old.

Milder alternative: Organic Acacia Honey. Something more everyday: Organic Wildflower Honey. Darker and less sweet: Organic Forest Honey. See the whole honey range.

Product information

Ingredients

Organic Linden Honey (100%). Product of Bulgaria. Produced from EU organic certified beekeeping.

Storage & crystallisation

Please bear in mind that crystallisation is a completely normal process in honey. You can slow it down, but it will happen eventually. Storage conditions matter: we recommend keeping your honey at 20–22°C. Temperatures between 11 and 16°C cause honey to crystallise very quickly.

All natural honey will turn solid over time. To re-liquefy, stand the jar in warm water. Store in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight, and keep the lid closed — honey draws in moisture from the air.

Allergens

No allergens are used as ingredients, and no allergens are handled at the production site.

Important

Do not feed honey to infants under one year of age.

Nutrition — typical values per 100 g

Certified organic under Regulation (EU) 2018/848. Organic certification body BG-BIO-02.