Strawberry Tree Honey

Strawberry tree honey is the most famous in the world among Italian honeys. This variety is one of the rarest and most valuable as the flowering of the plant takes place in October-November, for this reason, despite its diffusion in almost all of Italy, it produces honey only where an autumn-winter activity of the bees is possible. : almost only in Sardinia, with some rare favorable years in Tuscany. In this season, bees are unlikely to concentrate the collected nectar, so the honey always has high humidity, which, if not corrected by the beekeeper, creates the risk of fermentation.
The limited and territorially circumscribed production makes strawberry tree honey the one with the highest commercial value.
Organoleptic characteristics: Crystallization occurs rapidly. The color is amber in liquid honey, from nut to brown with gray-green hues in crystallized honey
Both the smell and the taste are intense, in the mouth it is persistent, with a strong bitter and astringent component.
Strawberry tree honey, due to its bitter taste, is a honey for amateurs. In the kitchen it can be combined with bitter vegetables, by analogy (thistles, artichokes) or with sweet and fatty cheeses (by contrast).
It is the perfect honey for coffee, the two bitters go well together without the honey invading the aroma of the drink.
In Sardinia it is used as an ingredient in a very particular nougat.