Honey is a natural sweetener, produced by honey bees and derived from the nectar of wild and cultivated flowers. Honey comes in many flavours and it depends upon the types of blossoms the bees visit when searching the nectar. Despite the floral source, location and climate factors are also affect the flavor, color and texture of honey.
Blended, polyfloral, monofloral are various types of honey. Common flavors of honey include orange blossom honey, tupelo honey, buckwheat honey, clover honey, blackberry, and blueberry honey. In Australia, the most common honey is from the eucalyptus trees, such as redgum, yellow gum and stringybark. Tasmanian leatherwood honey is considered a delicacy for its unique flavor. Greece is famous for wild thyme honey, as is France for lavender and acacia honey.

In 2005, New Zealand had 320,000 beehives that produced an average annual crop of 8,600 tonnes of honey. These honeys cover a huge range of flavour types and properties. From mild to very strong flavoured, light to dark coloured, delicately perfumed to pungent and even honeys with significant antibacterial properties.

Most commercially available honey is blended. Monofloral honeys are especially valuable on the market. New Zealand is a major producer of several of these fine monofloral honeys: Manuka Honey, Bugloss Honey, Nodding Thistle Honey, Kamahi Honey, Honeydew Honey, Tawari Honey, Rewarewa Honey or Thyme Honey. Another is Rata Honey, considered by many to be the best of New Zealand Honeys. It is white in colour, mild in flavour.

A very few common and popular flavors of honey are discussed below:

Alfalfa Honey:Alfalfa honey has a sweet mild flavor with a scent similar to bees wax. The honey ranges from a near clear to a light amber in color with a sweet mild flavor. Alfalfa is an important honey crop in the western United States.This is an ideal honey for baking, cooking and daily table use.

Basswood Honey: Basswood Honey is a light colored honey that comes from the Basswood trees, which grow throughout the St. Croix River Valley. Basswood honey is a somewhat scarce variety because the trees only bloom for about a 10-day period around July 4th. This honey is mild and pleasant in flavor with a taste similar to that of green, ripening fruit. It tastes well with green apples and vanilla ice cream.

Blueberry Honey: This honey is produced in U.S. and Canada and has mild fruity flavor with a delicate slightly buttery finish, medium amber in color.It gives

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