Mesquite Honey: One Flowering, One Harvest, One Year
Mesquite honey does not taste like what most people keep in the cupboard. It is paler, and it comes off one tree.
The edition: Enredadera, mesquite honey in hand-painted ceramic. $145.00 USD. Shipping included.
A few weeks, once a year
The mesquite is native to the semi-arid country of Mexico, the same tree that runs across west Texas and the American Southwest. Its name comes from the Nahuatl mizquitl. It flowers in spring, through the dry months, and not every year is generous. Beekeepers move their hives to be there when it opens, because almost nothing else is flowering then. What the bees carry back in those weeks is the whole harvest.
From one territory in Jalisco
Most mesquite honey sold in the United States comes from Arizona and Texas. Ours comes from further south, from a single territory in Jalisco, bought directly from the beekeepers who work it. The tree holds through droughts that stop everything else from flowering, and gives its bloom only when the year allows, which is why a batch is never quite the one before.
What it is like
- Colour: pale, nearer white than amber.
- Nose: soft, with wood underneath.
- Flavour: vanilla and almond first, caramel behind them.
- Texture: it sets early and sets fine, so after some weeks it spreads like butter rather than pouring.
- Make-up: about four fifths sugar, with fructose close to 40%; 15 to 18% water; potassium among its minerals.
| Bloom | Mesquite, one territory |
|---|---|
| Origin | Jalisco, Mexico |
| Flavour | Vanilla, almond, caramel |
| Colour | Near-white to light amber |
| Process | Raw. Never heated, never blended |
| Sets | Early, fine grain, spreadable |
| Harvest | Once a year, when the mesquite flowers |
How to tell if honey is real
In March 2023 the European Commission published the results of From the Hives: 320 honey shipments sampled at EU borders, 147 of them suspect, 46%, cut with syrups made from rice, wheat or beet. Concealing where a honey actually came from was among the methods found.
Four things separate a mesquite honey worth its price from a jar with the word on the label. It should be raw, and mean it. It should name one flower. It should name a territory, not just a country. And it should thicken with time. A honey that stays perfectly liquid for a year has usually been treated so that it will.
What monofloral means
The word has a threshold: 45% of the pollen from a single species, counted under a microscope. It is a measurement, not a description. Ours comes off one tree in one territory and is not cut with anything.
Eating it
A spoon over a young, salty cheese. A thread across warm bread and butter. Stirred into black coffee, where it softens the cup without turning it into something else.
When it turns pale and thick
Raw honey crystallises, and mesquite does it early and finely, so a vessel that arrived golden can look almost white a few weeks later. It is proof, not a defect: nobody heated it. Stand the vessel in warm water if you want it loose. Boiling water, a microwave or direct heat undo the one thing that makes the honey worth having.
Between harvests
De Todas Las Flores is raw wildflower honey from the same territory. It is not part of the numbered mesquite edition.
What can honestly be said about this honey
A great deal circulates online about the medicinal properties of mesquite honey, including that it is safe for people with diabetes. We do not repeat any of it.
This is honey, which is sugar. It is raw, which means it was never heated past hive temperature and never filtered to clarity, so the pollen and the enzymes the bees put in it are still in the vessel. That is a statement about how it was handled, not about what it does to a body. It is roughly four fifths sugar, fructose alone close to 40%, and it will raise blood sugar the way any honey does. If you are managing a condition, ask your physician.
And the bee on the vessel
The mesquite travels inside a hexagonal vessel cast, fired, painted freehand and fired again in Santa María Canchesdá, a town of 1,898 people in the State of Mexico (INEGI, 2020) where pottery is the second livelihood after farming.
The bee stands up from the front face, and the vine painted around her is the mesquite bloom she worked. Every piece is numbered; when the seven hundred are gone the edition is not repeated. The honey runs out. She does not.
Questions
What does mesquite honey taste like?
Vanilla and almond first, caramel behind, a little wood underneath.
Is Mexican mesquite honey different from Arizona mesquite honey?
Same genus of tree, different territory. Ours comes from a single territory in Jalisco, raw and never blended.
Why did my mesquite honey crystallise?
Because it is raw. Warm water under the vessel loosens it.
Is mesquite honey good for diabetics?
No honey is. It is sugar, roughly four fifths of its weight, and it raises blood sugar. Ask your physician.
How is Enredadera shipped?
By ground, with tracking. Shipping is included; the origin and transit time for your market are shown on the product page.
Enredadera, $145.00 USD. Shipping included.