8 tips for choosing, storing and using South African honey

How to get the best from your honey (and save the bees while you’re at it)

1) Don't store honey in the fridge as it will harden.

2) It's way better to use the milder honeys like acacia for cooking and baking as stronger flavours can be overpowering.

3) Buy local honey. Read the label carefully on the back of the jar. A lot of inferior honey is imported into the country.

4) Look out for the badger-friendly label on honey as this indicates it is locally sourced.

5) Never overheat honey as it destroys the valuable health properties. If the honey has crystallised, stand it in a bowl of hot water to soften.

6) By replacing a little of the sugar (not all) in cake recipes it will make the crumb more tender and give the cake better keeping quality.

7) South Africa has two sub-species of indigenous honeybees - the African bee (Apis mellifera scutellata) in the central and northern parts and the Cape bee (Apis mellifera capensis) which is generally found in fynbos regions.

8) If bees were to be wiped out it would mean the end of pollination and the failure of fruit trees and most other crops.