Acacia Honey from the Beekeeping School 500g

This honey comes from Le Rucher de l'École, the farm run by Virginie and William Gay in Saint-Léger-de-Fougeret, in the Nièvre. On the label the couple describe themselves as "shepherds of the bees in the Morvan hills for two generations", and the jar carries the words Miel de France (honey from France). The bees forage on the flowers of the black locust tree, which everyone in France calls acacia, and the beekeeper harvests in May and June. The honey is extracted by centrifugal force at hive temperature, around 34 °C, and it is not pasteurised.

It is the palest and most delicate honey from the farm: pale yellow to blond, very mild, with a note of beeswax that varies from one harvest to the next. It stays liquid for a long time, much longer than a spring or rapeseed honey, so it is easy to measure by the spoon. A fine crystallisation may appear over time; it is natural and does not change the taste.

Because it is so mild, this is the honey to use when you want sweetness without masking anything: green tea, fromage blanc, a fruit salad, a lemon vinaigrette. In baking, it can replace part of the sugar in madeleines or a mild gingerbread. If the jar crystallises, a warm water bath below 40 °C makes it runny again. 500 g glass jar, also on the shelves of our shop, 58 rue Tiquetonne, Paris.