Honey sublimates a cheese, adding a touch of sweetness and vegetal flavors in perfect harmony. The idea of pairing different honeys with a cheese platter is gaining ground, as demonstrated by the presence of Hédène honeys at the forthcoming Salon du Fromage et des Produits Laitiers.

Combining honey and cheese is not a new idea. Cottage cheese and honey, for example, have long been combined, adding a sweet, delicately flavored touch to this simple dessert. Honey is also a classic with fresh or semi-fresh goat's cheese.

France will have had an excellent honey production by 2023. According to recent figures from the Union nationale de l'apiculture française (UNAF), production that year reached 20,000 tonnes. This is higher than the figure for 2022, which was around 14,000 tonnes, and the figure for 2021, which was just under 10,000 tonnes.

Combining honeys and cheeses is currently in vogue. The two products have much in common. Just like cheese, honey is made according to the rhythm of the seasons. Spring honey is light in color, with a delicate fragrance. It comes mainly from the first blossoms: rosemary flowers, lime blossoms, but also honey from fruit trees. Summer honey is darker in color, and generally has a fuller-bodied taste. But depending on the plant or flower foraged, its flavor varies, just like cheese. Heather, chestnut, honeysuckle, lavender, rose, fir, buckwheat, sunflower, thyme - there are as many variations in aroma as there are flowers...

Then there's the question of which honey to choose for which cheese. Experts agree that lavender honey is best suited to goat's milk cheeses and creamy cheeses such as Brillat-Savarin, Chaource or Brousse de Brebis. Acacia honey is ideal with Camembert, but also with Roquefort. Fir honey, with its pronounced woody notes, is ideal with washed-rind cheeses like Livarot or Mont d'Or, or pressed cheeses like Beaufort. Chestnut honey will conquer cheeses such as Bleu des Causses or Roquefort. As for lime blossom honey, its freshness underlines a Brie or Camembert cheese.

Hédène honeys in the spotlight at Salon du Fromage et des Produits Laitiers

The 2024 edition of the Salon du Fromage et des Produits Laitiers (SFPL) will welcome Miels Hédène. These 100% French honeys showcase France's floral heritage. Each Miels de France Hédène comes from a flower emblematic of a French terroir, and is distinguished by a unique aromatic typicity, through a wide range of rare vintages.

All the regions of France are represented in our range of honeys: acacia or lime blossom from Burgundy, lavender from Luberon, fir from Lorraine, rosemary from the Pyrenees, as well as rarer varieties such as rhododendron from the Pyrenees, hawthorn from Rhône-Alpes, coriander from Berry and even carrot from Ile-de-France and a honey made in Paris.

Maison Hédène also works with the finest master cheesemakers who place traceability, terroir and taste at the heart of their approach. Several of France's finest cheese makers, including Michel Fouchereau, Marie Quatrehomme, Pierre Gay and Ludovic Bisot, are prestigious ambassadors for Hédène.

This approach is supported by the Fédération des Fromagers de France and the Maison du lait. The result is some of the finest combinations of Hédène honey and cheese, combining these two noble products with so much in common.

Miel Hédène: stand 7/3 F081

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