Coastal Mallee Honey

Botanical Name: Coastal mallee (Eucalyptus diversifolia)

Botanical Family: Myrtaceae

Bee Species:

Apis mellifera, the western honey bee, as with every commercial South Australian honey.

Color:

not independently documented. The producer who bottles it describes a darker, more layered honey than the other eucalypt varietals it sells

Flavor Profile:

described by the producer as rich and full-bodied, with malty, toffee and earthy notes

Tasting Notes:

The producer who bottles it single-source calls it bold in character, with a lingering sweetness and a savoury bush note, and puts it with aged cheeses and charcuterie rather than in baking.

Aroma:

not documented – no published description of this honey’s aroma was found

Forage Origin:

Nectar from coastal mallee, Eucalyptus diversifolia, in the Myrtaceae family. It grows on several stems from a rootstock at ground level, anywhere from half a metre on exposed cliff tops to ten metres in sheltered country, with smooth bark in cream and grey over pink, yellow or brown, and cream-white flowers carried seven, nine or eleven to a cluster.

The species name records a change in the leaves rather than a difference between plants. Young growth carries broad leaves in opposite pairs, clasping the stem; mature growth carries narrow leaves, singly and on stalks. Ferdinand von Mueller gave it a second name, Eucalyptus santalifolia, for a resemblance he saw between those leaves and sandalwood, and it is from that name that the Victorian government apiculturist was calling the tree sandal gum in 1922.

It is restricted to well-drained sandy soils, usually over limestone, in coastal country: much of Eyre Peninsula, the southern end of Yorke Peninsula, Kangaroo Island and the South East, with smaller separated stands in the Mount Lofty Ranges at Newland Head and Carrickalinga. It stands in the second line back from the water rather than on the front, and it does not tolerate waterlogged or salty ground. Yorrell, red mallee, dryland tea-tree and drooping sheoak share the same country.

The names are the difficulty. The jar says coastal mallee. Beekeepers say stoney mallee, and that is the name in the monthly crop reports. The state herbarium gives coastal mallee and coastal white mallee; the national eucalypt reference gives soap mallee; the standard beekeeping flora indexes it as stony mallee. Three of those names are also worn by other trees. White mallee is used for two other species in the same top-ten list a South Australian beekeeper would read, and blue mallee usually means a Victorian oil mallee. In Western Australia, honey sold as coastal mallee comes from a different tree again, Eucalyptus incrassata, and is described as light-coloured where this one is described as dark.

Few of these honeys name a species at all. South Australian mallee is usually sold by district – Murray Mallee, Coorong Mallee, South East Mallee – or as mallee and nothing further, and one seller states plainly that its flavour depends on which mallee species the bees worked. Where the Latin name is printed on the label, it settles the question; where it is not, the district is all the buyer has.

The same blurring happens well before the jar is filled. Of all the honey South Australian beekeepers delivered to one national packer between 1991 and 2002, the largest single share arrived described only as mallee, while red, white, black and yellow mallee were each recorded separately. Whatever coastal mallee contributed sits inside that undivided line.

Pairings:

The producer who bottles it puts it with aged cheese and charcuterie, over roasted vegetables, and into marinades, glazes and slow cooking, as well as on toast and through porridge. It is sold as a honey for savoury use rather than for baking.