Yemeni Cave Honey

Sidr is monofloral: the bees work one floral source, the jujube tree Ziziphus, and the honey is taken in a single harvest once it has finished flowering. Most honey on a shelf is blended across several countries and floral sources, then heated and filtered so every jar pours the same. That processing is what makes it consistent, and it is also what strips out the pollen, the enzymes and most of the aroma.

Yes, and it is the best evidence you have that the honey was not processed. Raw honey crystallises because nobody heated and micro-filtered it to stop that happening. To loosen it, stand the jar in water no hotter than you would comfortably put your hand in. Not boiling water and not a microwave, both of which drive off the aromatics.

One or two teaspoons straight from the jar, or stirred into a drink once it has cooled below about 40°C. Above that you are paying single-origin prices for a sweetener. It is also very good over labneh, yoghurt, oats or warm bread, and the darker honeys stand up well against a sharp cheese.

Same botanical family, different terroir and different scale. The Yemeni Sidr comes from scattered wild trees in the Hadhramaut that yield very little, which is most of what you are paying for. The Pakistani Beri comes from larger, more accessible orchards and is the honest way into the style. The cave honey is not an orchard honey at all: it is wild comb cut from cliff cavities, darker and more resinous than any of them.

Not under one year old. Raw honey can carry Clostridium botulinum spores, which an adult gut handles without trouble but an infant's cannot. This applies to every raw honey at any price, and to honey stirred into food or used to sweeten a bottle. Over one year old it is fine.