Forest Honeydew Honey from Piemonte - 250g

When we think of the bees and their incessant search for sugars, we think of nectar. And yet plants do not produce nectar alone, and the bees do not search for nectar alone.
Almost all of the plants and trees reserve their main production of sugar to their flowers and then their fruit. Lymph too is sugary, as is well known by the little parasites that infest trees in their search for it. This is, quite simply, honeydew: the sweet lymph abandoned in drops by the insects that have extracted it from the tree. Among those responsible for honeydew are insects such as cochineals and aphids, and in particular Metcalfa pruinosa, the chief producer of Italian honeydew.
These insects attach the leaves and buds to suck out the lymph. From their meal, some drops filled with sugars are left over on the surface of the tree, and so even plants devoid of bright flowers or abundant nectar become interesting to the bees. These plants include oaks, beeches, maples, willows and fir trees, as well as many other trees, shrubs, bushes and herbs, growing for the most part in woody environments. Honeydew is produced in full summer, from July to September.

The bees perceive the presence of honeydew and gather it incessantly, drop by drop. The forest becomes a reserve of sugars as enticing as a field of flowers. In the silence of the woods, the ear immediately hears the buzzing of bees, but the eye does not see what the gathering insects are searching for. The only clue is provided by the colonies of Metcalfa, tiny white insects that reside on the leaves of the younger branches, where the lymph can be reached more easily

Piemonte is one of the Italian regions where the best forest honeydew honey is produced, thanks to the interaction between the bees and the insects that bore into the trunks of numerous trees, firs, lindens and chestnuts.

Honeydew is liquid but may crystallize over the course of time. In color it is very dark, almost black, while its fragrance is highly distinctive, vegetal, recalling stewed fruit or fig jam, decidedly devoid of the flowery aroma characteristic of most other kinds of honey.

The honeydew of the fir tree, even more particular, is liquid and remains so for a long time.
It is very dark, almost black in color with a greenish tinge. Its light odor is reminiscent of resin, burnt wood, and caramelized sugar.

The flavor fulfils the promises coming from the other senses: honeydew is different from honey derived from nectar, is slightly salty and resembles malt or dried prunes. It is a particular kind of honey, much appreciated by those who say they don’t like honey, appropriate as a sweetener, tasty either spread on bread or as a table honey, accompanying cheese and other dishes.