Sidr vs Acacia (Palosa) vs Wildflower vs Robinia: Which Honey Should You Buy?

Four varieties account for most honey sold in Pakistan, with wildflower honey the everyday one and Sidr the expensive one. They are not interchangeable, and the price gap between them is real.

Four varieties account for most honey sold in Pakistan. They are not interchangeable, and the price gap between them is large enough to be worth understanding before you buy.

The main types of honey in Pakistan, compared

Sidr, or Beri

The variety Pakistan is known for. Harvested from wild Ziziphus in arid country — ours from Karak. One short flowering season a year, which is the whole reason for the price. If you have only tasted supermarket honey, Sidr will not taste like honey to you at first: it is darker and far less sweet. See our Sidr honey.

Acacia, or Palosa

Pale, mild and slow to set. If someone in the house dislikes strong honey, this is the one. Its resistance to crystallising also makes it the easiest to keep pourable through a Pakistani winter.

Wildflower

Multi-floral, from whatever was in bloom. The everyday jar, and the one most likely to crystallise in December — which is a sign it has not been heated. See our 500g jar.

Robinia

Often sold alongside Acacia and easily confused with it. Milder still, and very pale.

A note on "choti makhi"

Choti makhi (چھوٹی مکھی) refers to honey from small wild bees rather than to a flower. Yields per colony are tiny, so it commands the highest prices of all. It is a description of the bee, not a guarantee of the floral source.

So which one?

For daily use, wildflower or Acacia. For a gift or for the experience of a true mono-floral, Sidr. Browse everything in the honey collection, or read what each variety costs.

How to taste them side by side

If you want to understand the difference rather than read about it, taste them in order from mildest to strongest — Acacia or Robinia first, then wildflower, then Sidr — with water in between. Doing it the other way round means the Sidr flattens everything after it.

Use a teaspoon at room temperature. Honey straight from a cold cupboard tastes muted, and honey warmed to loosen it has lost some of the aromatics you are trying to judge.

Matching a variety to how you will use it

A word on price per use

Sidr costs several times more per kilogram, but it is not usually the honey you get through a kilogram of. If you eat honey daily, a wildflower jar is the sensible everyday buy and a small Sidr jar is the thing you keep for its own sake. The arithmetic is in our price guide.

Common questions

Which should I buy first? Wildflower, if you are unsure. It is the everyday one, and the mildest.

Why is Sidr so much more expensive? It comes from a single tree flowering for a short season, so the yield per hive is far smaller.

Compare them yourself in the honey collection, or read why crystallisation is a good sign.

Where wildflower honey fits

Wildflower honey is the everyday jar of the four: mildest in taste, mid-amber, and the cheapest per kilogram because a hive yields most of it. It is the one to start with if you are not sure, and the one whose character shifts most from season to season, since it takes whatever was in flower at the time. See the honey collection for current jars.