Celebrity chef Nigella Lawson has hailed a Scottish firm's honey as her favourite brand.
The English food writer and cook said tasting the Scottish Bee Company's heather honey was, "like eating the landscape."
"I went to Scotland and fell in love with it," said the chef, who has launched a competition with the online supermarket Ocado to find Britain's next "honey hero".
The winner will receive a £2000 investment and the opportunity to have their honey stocked by the store.
The Scottish Bee Company was founded in 2017 with the aim of boosting the country’s dwindling bee population and increasing pollination as well as grow employment opportunities for bee farmers and help generate a rise in the export of Scottish products.
Within just over six months of the Edinburgh business being launched by husband and wife team, Suzie and Iain Millar, the company has not only created Scotland’s first bee farming apprentice but had secured contracts with The House of Bruar in Perthshire, IJ Mellis across Scotland, and into Cumbria, England.
Suzie Miller said: "We beyond excited that Nigella Lawson loves our Scottish Heather Honey.
"We love what she is doing for the slow food movement as we truly believe in championing the principles of slow food at The Scottish Bee Company."
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Interviewed by The Times, Nigella said she enjoyed trying out local varieties of honey while on holiday and was fascinated by a Celtic tradition that involves talking to bees.
She said: "Apparently you tell them your sorrows and your joys and that's meant to be a bonding thing."
"And did you know about just how long capped honey can last in the frames in the hives?
"I thought they meant a few years but then I read this article that they discovered some honey in the tomb of a pharoah and it was still edible.
"I didn't see any tasting notes, though..."
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