‘Like a warm autumn walk in the woods’: the best supermarket runny honey, tasted and rated

It seems you get what you pay for when it comes to honey – so whose is the bee’s knees and whose tastes like bog-standard syrup?

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Honey is a wonderfully versatile store-cupboard staple, and I always seem to have about three different types on the go at any one time. It’s typically a squeezy bottle to bake with, a jar for sweetening teas and yoghurt, and something a little fancier and more complex to enjoy drizzled on buttered toast or with cheese.

Honey shouldn’t just be “sweet”, though. Its taste, colour and viscosity are shaped by a range of factors – from the season it was harvested and the location, to the pollen of the plants nearby. Many cheaper options blend honey from more than one country, whereas single-origin honey is clearly labelled and typically has more distinctive, layered flavours specific to where it was produced. I’ll happily be adding a few of these into my rotation, so much so that I sense a honey-themed dinner party is on the way.