Honey

Honey is the original sweetener, popular long before cane sugar became common. Some of the most valued honeys come from orange blossom, buckwheat, sage blossom, heather, rosemary, lavender, acacia and eucalyptus. The color varies with the flower. Usually, the paler the honey, the milder its flavor. Plain, or extracted, honey is often pasteurized to prevent crystallization. Chunk honey containing bits of honeycomb is not processed, neither is comb honey, which comes straight from the beehive.