Saturday morning, Safeway, aisle 10: The cute honey bear grins, beckoning for you to put him in your cart.
This Rosh Hashanah, resist that urge. Step away from the mainstream, mass-produced honey.
Go instead to the nearest farmer’s market or natural food store.
Clover honey, which is sold in nearly every grocery store in America and is probably what you last year used to dip your apples and make your honeycake, is only one type among many, often bolder-tasting, varieties of honey.
Honey’s taste is determined by its location and the plant life found there, much the way wine’s taste depends on the type of grape and where it’s grown. The possibilities for sticky sweetness are plentiful, particularly in the Bay Area, which is famous for the richness of its flora and abundance of microclimates.
A San Francisco beekeeper for 10 years, Robert MacKimmie says the differences are noticeable even within the city limits.
“Certain locations may have more sage or coyote bush, for example, and that’s what gives honey a certain flavor or another,” he said.
MacKimmie maintains small beehives in eight backyards and parks in San Francisco, and five other hives in the North and East Bay. He harvests, jars and sells honey from each location, and says each one has a distinct flavor. (MacKimmie’s honey is for sale on his Web site, www.citybees.com.)
“I like MacLaren Park a lot,” he said. “The wild fennel and eucalyptus there give the honey a real spicy and cinnamon flavor.”
According to the National Honey Board, there are more than 300 unique types of honey available in the United States, each originating from a different floral source. As a general rule, the darker the honey, the bolder the flavor.
“I like to taste how different they are from each other,” MacKimmie said. “I just take little spoonfuls and appreciate the differences more than any particular honey.”
Some common honeys that originate in California include:
n Avocado honey, gathered from avocado blossoms, is dark with a rich, buttery taste.
n Eucalyptus honey has more than 500 distinct species and many hybrids. It varies in color and flavor, but tends to be boldly flavored with a slightly medicinal aftertaste.
n Orange blossom honey is often a combination of citrus floral sources and is mostly gathered in southern Florida, Texas, Arizona and California. Orange trees bloom in March and April and produce a white to extra light amber honey with a distinctive flavor and the aroma of orange blossoms.
n Sage honey can come from different species of the plant. Sage shrubs usually grow along the California coastline and in the Sierra Nevada. It has a mild, delicate flavor and is usually white.
n Star thistle honey. Considered a weed, star thistle grows on dry hills and roadsides of Northern California. Environmentalists want to eradicate it because it is invasive. Farmers dislike it because it can kill cattle and horses if they eat too much. But bees love the nectar from this prickly plant, whose pollen produces a light amber honey that is not too sweet.