Mexican artisan honey
“Artisan” is not a regulated word. Anyone can print it on a label. This page explains what sits behind it when it does mean something.
What separates artisan honey from commercial honey
Three things, and none of them has to do with the jar.
It is not pasteurized. Supermarket honey is heated so it will not crystallize on the shelf. The heat leaves it stable and strips the enzymes out. Raw honey keeps what it had when it left the comb, and that is why it turns solid in the cold.
Lots are not blended. Industrial honey combines harvests from different apiaries, sometimes from different countries, so the flavor is identical all year. Artisan honey changes from one harvest to the next, because the bloom changed. That variation is the proof, not the flaw.
You know where it came from. Beekeeper, region, season. When a label does not say, it is usually because it cannot.
How to tell whether the one in your kitchen is
Leave it a few weeks somewhere cool. If it turns pale and spreadable, it is raw. If it is still liquid and transparent months later, it was treated with heat.
The spoon, the glass of water and the paper prove nothing: those are internet tests, not laboratory ones. We explain why they fail, and what actually detects adulteration, in this article.
Monofloral and wildflower
Wildflower comes from several blooms of one territory: a rounder, more floral profile, with body. It is most of Mexican honey and there is nothing lesser about it.
Monofloral comes from a single species in flower, which forces the harvest into a window of a few weeks. That limits the volume and defines the flavor. Mesquite honey is among the hardest to find in Mexico: low sweetness, light body, a faintly woody finish.
The two Fantina honeys
The Flora vessel. Three and a half ounces of raw wildflower honey in hexagonal ceramic painted by hand, with the bee modeled in relief piece by piece.
The Enredadera vessel. Monofloral mesquite honey from beekeepers in Jalisco, in an edition of 700 numbered pieces that will not be repeated.
Both vessels are made and painted by hand in Santa María Canchesdá, in the State of Mexico. Every artisan paints freehand, without a stencil, so no two are alike.
How to keep it
Sealed and out of the sun it lasts years. Do not refrigerate it: that speeds up crystallization and gains you nothing. If you want it liquid again, set the jar in warm water and wait. Above 105°F you start losing exactly what made it different.
How it arrives
Ships from our warehouse in McAllen, Texas, to addresses across the United States. Shipping is calculated at checkout by weight, and several pieces travel in one box at a single cost. It goes with a handwritten card and no visible prices, so it can be sent straight to the person receiving it.