Organic Forest Honey - RAWGORILLA - 750g

This is the honey for people who think they do not like honey. Dark amber to almost black, smelling of woodland rather than flowers, and noticeably less sweet than anything else on the shelf.

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. Diastase, invertase and glucose oxidase are all heat-sensitive, and heating degrades them while pushing up HMF, the standard laboratory marker for how much a honey has been heated or aged.

This honey is raw. It goes from comb to jar without pasteurisation or heat treatment.

What forest honey tastes like

Dark amber to very dark amber, sometimes with reddish or greenish-brown hues. The aroma is rich and intense with woody, resinous, malty notes. The flavour is complex rather than simply sweet — malty, woody, faintly caramelised, with real depth. Texture is dense and viscous.

Forest honey is not made from flowers at all

Here is the fact that surprises everyone. Forest honey is honeydew honey, and it does not come from nectar.

Sap-sucking insects such as aphids feed on tree sap, take what they need and excrete the excess — a sugary residue that coats leaves and bark. Bees collect that. Same bees, same hives, entirely different raw material, and the result is a honey with a fundamentally different composition from anything made from flowers.

How you can prove it is genuine honeydew honey

This is where it gets interesting, and it is the reason we can back the claim up rather than just make it.

Honeydew honey contains far more minerals than blossom honey, and minerals conduct electricity. So electrical conductivity is the official laboratory test used to distinguish honeydew from blossom honey under Directive 2001/110/EC, with 0.8 mS/cm as the dividing line.

Our organic acacia honey measures around 0.15 mS/cm. This honey measures 1.00 mS/cm, with a specified minimum of 0.90. That figure is hard evidence that what is in the jar is true forest honeydew honey, not a dark blossom honey being sold as one. You will also see it in the nutrition panel: 0.5 g protein per 100 g against 0–0.1 g for the floral honeys.

Why forest honey is less sweet

Different sugars. Honeydew honey contains more complex sugars and fewer simple ones than blossom honey, which is why it reads as malty and rounded rather than straightforwardly sweet — and why it is lower in glucose, so it stays liquid far longer than most honeys.

How to use organic forest honey

Treat it more like black treacle or dark muscovado than like honey.

• On sourdough with plenty of salted butter.
• With strong cheese — mature cheddar, aged pecorino, manchego.
• In glazes. Barbecue sauce, teriyaki, glazed ham, roast root vegetables.
• In porridge and over vanilla ice cream.
• In dark baking. Gingerbread, parkin, rye bread, anything with treacle in it already.
• In coffee, where its malty depth works far better than a delicate honey.

Where this organic forest honey comes from

Single-origin Bulgaria, one producer, certified organic beekeeping — not the “blend of EU and non-EU honeys” formula that appears on most supermarket jars.

Certified under Regulation (EU) 2018/848 by body BG-BIO-02. Organic beekeeping rules require forage within a 3 km radius of the apiary to come from organic crops or wild vegetation, hives to be built largely from natural materials, no synthetic chemical repellents during extraction, and colonies to be left enough honey and pollen to overwinter on.

How we prove it is real

Honeydew honeys command premium prices, which makes them worth adulterating. The European Commission’s 2021–22 coordinated action found 46% of imported honey consignments — 147 of 320 — suspicious for sugar-syrup adulteration.

Every batch here is verified by NMR profiling, stable isotope analysis (IRMS) for C3/C4 sugar detection, pollen analysis, HPLC sugar profiling — and, specific to this honey, the conductivity measurement that confirms its honeydew origin. Residue testing returns “not detected” for glyphosate, pesticides, heavy metals, bee repellents 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 raises HMF, the standard laboratory marker for heat damage and age.

What is the difference between forest honey and honeydew honey?

They are the same thing. “Forest honey” is the common name and “honeydew honey” the technical one. Both describe honey made from the sugary secretions of sap-feeding insects on trees rather than from flower nectar.

Why is forest honey less sweet than normal honey?

Its sugar composition is different — more complex sugars, fewer simple ones. That is what produces the malty, rounded flavour rather than straightforward sweetness.

Why is forest honey more expensive?

Honeydew flows depend on weather and insect populations in a way that flower blooms do not. They are unpredictable, yields are lower, and some years there is barely any at all.

How do I know it is really honeydew honey and not just dark honey?

Electrical conductivity is the official test. The legal threshold separating honeydew from blossom honey is 0.8 mS/cm; this honey is specified at 1.00 mS/cm with a minimum of 0.90.

Does forest honey crystallise?

More slowly than most honeys — it is dense and often remains liquid for a long time. If it sets, warm water restores it. Keep it at 20–22°C and out of the 11–16°C range, which crystallises honey fastest.

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.

New to honeydew honey? Start with our Organic Wildflower Honey for something more familiar, or go to the opposite end with Organic Acacia Honey. Prefer a larger jar? See Raw Forest Honey 950g. Browse the full honey range.

Product information

Ingredients

Organic Forest 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.