Honeydew honey, sometimes called forest honey, does not come from nectar. Bees collect the sugary secretions that aphids and related insects excrete after feeding on plant sap, most commonly from conifers, oak and lime, and process those secretions into honey.
The resulting product is compositionally distinct. It is darker, less sweet and more resinous or malty on the palate than nectar honey. It carries higher mineral content and a different sugar profile, with more oligosaccharides and less of the simple fructose and glucose that dominate nectar honey. It also crystallises more slowly, which is a commercial advantage for a liquid retail line.
Electrical conductivity is the standard analytical separator between the two categories, and the reason is the mineral content. Council Directive 2001/110/EC as transposed distinguishes honeydew honey in its composition criteria, and Codex CXS 12 does the same internationally. The parameter is named here; the limits sit in the instruments.
For a buyer this has one immediate practical use: a pale sample offered as honeydew warrants immediate conductivity testing. Colour alone is suggestive but not diagnostic, and honeydew commands a premium that makes misdeclaration worthwhile.
Two further parameters behave differently on this honey. Natural diastase activity is high, so the meaningful assessment is the change from a supplier’s own baseline rather than the absolute figure. And because the honey resists crystallisation, a packer is less likely to need the liquefaction cycles that cost diastase and raise HMF on other varieties.