Tropical Forest Clear Organic Honey Tub, 3.18Kg

I have read some curious reviews about this honey, mainly in the one star category, and I must say I am perplexed as to some of the rubbish that has been written. Apricot Jam? Smells of Alcohol? Flavoured syrup? I don't know that planet these people come from but here is my review of the product as I have seen, smelled and tasted. And by the way, my next order will be my third batch of the stuff sold by Suma WholeFoods. As soon as you open the tub the strong smell hits you. It is not an unpleasant smell. Just strong. Someone has already pointed out that it smells like Valerian, and having been familiar with Valerian, and in particular Valerian tea, I can say that that is exactly right. That is the smell nailed down, totally! As far as appearance is concerned, the honey is dark brown to brown and is crystalline in appearance, meaning it will appear grainy or look like sugar crystals. The crystallization of honey is normal and is a sign that you are getting an authentic product in terms of being raw, natural and organic. Interestingly, the amount of crystallization of a given honey is dependant on the types of flowers that the bees forage as some pollens lend themselves better to crystallisation than others. As far as taste is concerned, it is very sweet with a Valerian taste/after-taste. The taste reminds me of a cross between Valerian tea and Earl Grey. Whether or not the bees have been foraging Valerian flowers is impossible to say but it's more likely that the taste comes from the accumulation of many pollen types from wild flowers and plants in the region where this honey is harvested. If you are used to supermarket honey, then this may taste slightly strange to your tastes. The taste is not overpowering or unpleasant but if you require a more delicate/subtle taste for whatever reason, then this honey probably isn't the honey for you. I'm sorry, but I don't understand the mentality of people who set out to buy a natural, organic, and raw product and then complain that it doesn't taste like the tasteless and sterile stuff sold in the supermarkets. Surely common sense dictates that thousands upon thousands of jars of supermarket honey all looking and tasting the same with the same consistency year in, year out, is not right or natural? To my pallet, it tastes stronger but stronger doesn't mean unpleasant, just different. It has all the qualities you would expect from a natural product which is why I have continued to buy it and will probably continue to buy it, except for some occasional experimentation with other products, in the future. Tip: If like me you use a lot of coconut oil, then save your empty 500g jars as they make ideal honey storage jars

I buy this honey regularly in the smaller containers and enjoy it so I thought I'd buy a larger one for my upcoming mead-making experiment. The honey flavour is good, although this product is the 'clear' version and I normally order 'set'. Since this is for mead and still organic, I don't mind, but I do feel the 'set' has a better taste. The container is a bit annoying to open, but I just wedged a (dull) knife under the 'open' flap and pried it open that way. Wasn't any more effort than opening a tough jar. Definitely good quality honey, you can taste the difference from cheap brands! Now... I order this 'Fulfilled by Amazon'. Ordinarily I have NO problems with such products, but this time turned out a bit rough. My first order, I noticed honey on the bottom of the box when I picked it up. I flipped it upside down and opened it and, sure enough, the container had busted. A crack around the bottom. There was a bit of paper thrown in the box, perhaps to take up extra space? It did a poor job. The honey was basically at the mercy of the delivery people. No 'fragile' or anything on the box and no protective wrapping. My husband was not happy and recommended I contact Amazon to return it in case there could be contamination. So, I contacted Amazon and they were VERY quick to get back to me and despatch a new box with honey! Unfortunately, it just arrived today and this one was even worse. LARGE crack in the bottom of the container and honey was all over the inside of the box and dripping out the bottom. I think between the two of them I'll have one full container of honey... Definitely disappointed with the shipping and I won't be ordering this online again. The first delivery was by courier and the second by Royal Mail and I don't blame them, it's just a hard plastic container that needs more protection for Amazon to ship it.

This honey is really good quality, tastes great, and don't take too much, because it's very sweet.

Not bad, but unfortunately tinged with sugar. Way too sweet and goes into my teeth so bees were definitely fed sugar.

Luvley honey , thick but spreadable with Smokey after taste. Very good value and prompt delivery -well packed

This honey has a very strong pungent smell but it tastes really good. I purchased this because it claims to be organic and support fair trade. Sadly pure unfiltered honey is very rare to find and even when we think it's the real deal (I saw a documentary on this), it's being mixed with syrups or falsely labelled to get around proper trading standards. This stuff looks, smells and tastes very organic, unlike any I've had before. I love the tub and the honey is soft enough to use in cooking, smoothies or eat whole. It's very expensive but one major advantage to it's strong smell is that no one else wants to touch my honey! So all mine! Otherwise my siblings eat up all my stuff so this is awesome :-)

Our first ordered of 3.18kg Tropical Organic Honey was nearly a year ago, more precisely on December 2014. This is our forth purchase and I am ... disappointed. A year ago, our first impression was more or less in line with other reviews: terrible smell, very strong flavour and dark colour. My wife would not go anywhere near it but ... I loved it. This was not the first time I tasted honey harvested from wild bees. I knew it should have a strong taste and smell. Was crystallized but that is normal. Years ago we used to keep 5, 6 beehives so I am well accustomed with organic honey. The honey last purchased has nothing in common with the first or second one I ordered. The smell, the flavour, the colour and the texture is gone. See attached photo. The dark honey at the bottom of the jar is from a previous purchase, the rest is from last purchase, and I do not believe that is a pure tropical forest honey from wild bees. A less smelly honey would definetely get you more customers, but should you advertised it as "Tropical Forest Organic Honey" ... ?!

I have bought this same honey numerous times and it is real honey and very nice however the last batch of them I bought had a container with a split bottom which I only discovered this morning as it had leaked and stuck on my shelf. Fortunately I had the previous one I was able to decant it into. I will still buy it but just a warning to check it very closely when you unpack it because it's a terrible expensive mess to clean up. Hence only 3 Stars on this occasion