Strawberry tree honey

Bitter, astringent, lingering. The strawberry tree of Villasimius flowers only in autumn — and the honey it gives resembles no other.

The strawberry tree flowers in late autumn, when almost everything else has already stopped. It is one of the last gifts of the Mediterranean scrub around Villasimius before winter — and the bees know it.

What they make is the most challenging honey in our range. Dark amber colour, intense taste with a bitter, astringent edge you won't find in any other Italian honey. That isn't a flaw: it is the character of the strawberry tree, intact in the jar. People who taste it for the first time fall into two camps — those who love it at once and those who have to come back to it. They usually come back.

In Sardinia it is the base of a traditional nougat with a flavour all of its own. In the kitchen it works in coffee, on cheeses such as ricotta, pecorino sardo and robiola, with fresh melon, on white chocolate mousse — the bitter-sweet contrast does all the work. With pane carasau it makes a proper Sardinian snack.

Good to know:

• Single-flower strawberry tree honey — Villasimius, Sardinia
• Dark amber, bitter and astringent, lingering
• Limited production — short, difficult autumn flowering
• No additives or preservatives
• 250 g jar
• Store at room temperature, away from heat and direct light