Drizzle it on your morning toast, stir it liberally into your tea or put the claims that it could ease hay fever symptoms to the test.
There are plenty of ways to enjoy sweet, golden honey.
Luckily for us Scots, the country’s natural landscape and climate create the perfect conditions for harvesting some of the finest available in the world.
More than this, heather honey in particular has been hailed as a "superfood" thanks to high levels of the essential micronutrient, manganese.
From pioneering new businesses that have caught the eye of British TV icons to decades-old apiary experts, here are 10 honey producers creating a buzz in Scotland if you're looking to upgrade a store cupboard essential.
Struan Apiaries
Conon Bridge
Over the past 50 years, this family-run operation in the Scottish Highlands has gone from caring for one hive to hundreds.
Check out their signature blend jars of blossom honey and malt whisky to discover what they describe as a ‘combination made in heaven’.
www.struanapiaries.co.uk
The Scottish Bee Company
Edinburgh
Established in 2017, The Scottish Bee Company champions the principles of ‘slow food and regenerative farming practices’.
As reported by the Herald, Nigella Lawson recently named its Heather Honey as her favourite and compared the taste to “eating the landscape”.
READ MORE: Scottish honey maker 'beyond excited' after Nigella name check
With summer salad season and BBQ season approaching quickly, their range of infused dressings or hot honey drizzles are sure to add a punchy, subtle sweetness to your dishes.
www.scottishbeecompany.co.uk
Edinburgh Honey Co.
Easter Road, Edinburgh
All of this Edinburgh company’s honey is 100% raw and natural and harvested by a team that boasts over 60 years of expertise.
Add a little wow factor to charcuterie boards by ordering a thick chunk of heather honeycomb to nestle amongst cheeses and fruits, lending them a “tangy, punchy and smoky” flavour.
www.edinburghhoney.co.uk
Anderson’s Scottish Honey
Aberdeenshire
This team believe that “good honey is like good wine” and should differ in flavour, appearance and texture depending on where and when it has been harvested.
And when it comes to their yield, the flowering plants and trees across Northeast Scotland make for a particularly complex range of honey from bees that are “well catered for”.
Ian’s Honey
Strathardle and Glenshee
Ian’s Honey comes from the wild, open moorlands of Scotland where nectar is collected from bees that forage from delicate purple heather flowers.
To try the “Rolls Royce of honey” for yourself, turn to their website where you can order three mini pails to be delivered anywhere across the UK.
ianshoney.co.uk
Heather Hills Farm
Blairgowrie
Heather Hills Farm currently maintains 1300 hives across Perthshire and Deeside which are carefully spaced out to ensure their bees enjoy the freedom to roam.
What sets their product apart from the squeezy bottles you’ll find on supermarket shelves?
They say: “In an age of mass production and bulk processing, our honey is collected and extracted using traditional methods to ensure that the enzymes, protein and natural goodness stay within and are not destroyed during the harvesting, separating or bottling processes.”
www.heatherhills.co.uk
Hood's Honey
Based in the hills of East Lothian for six decades, Hood’s Honey has cared for an incredible 13 million bees “the old-fashioned way” with three distinctive varieties of Honey Blossom, Wildflower and Heather.
For a gift that’s both sustainable and thoughtful, turn to their candles crafted using beeswax which is a natural by-product of beekeeping.
Ed’s Bees
Glasgow
Ed O’Brien’s urban beehives are dotted all over Glasgow, from his back garden in the Southside to the top of the Barclay’s building.
Amongst them are ‘Bucky’ queens, sourced from bees originally bred by a 1920s monk at Buckfast Abbey which are said to be “very chilled out, mild-mannered”.
You’ll find jars of this sweet nectar at delicatessens and cheese shops across the city.
Glen Heather Honey
Gardenhall, East Kilbride
Searching for a cure for his hay fever in 2012, Chris of Glen Heather Honey developed a “serious taste for expensive honey”.
He soon turned this hobby into a business with an aim to “create the strongest, healthiest and happiest honeybees, that produce the finest artisan honey in the world.”
Glen Heather now specialises in raw honey and infusions with a savoury twist from sites across Eaglesham, East Kilbride and Carmunock.
www.glenheatherhoney.co.uk
Cloverlea Apiaries
Perthshire
This “friendly bee company” is a family-run honey bar farm situated in the Ochil Hills of Perthshire.
There, they produce blossom, soft set, infused and heather honey, all unprocessed and minimally filtered “as nature intended”.
The team also hand-makes a fabulous range of cosmetics including serums, night creams and lip balms that smell good enough to eat while being kind to skin with no sulphates, parabens or palm oil.
www.cloverleaapiaries.co.uk
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