White honey is any honey that falls into the lightest color categories on the standardized grading scale used across the honey industry. It’s not literally white like milk, but rather a very pale gold or near-transparent liquid that appears whitish compared to the amber and brown tones of darker varieties. The color comes from the nectar source: bees foraging on certain light-flowering plants produce honey that stays remarkably pale.
How Honey Color Is Graded
The honey industry uses the Pfund scale, which measures color intensity in millimeters. Three grades qualify as “white” honey. Water White scores 8 mm or less and looks almost clear. Extra White falls between 8 and 17 mm. White ranges from 17 to 34 mm. Anything above that moves into Extra Light Amber, Light Amber, and progressively darker categories. The color difference isn’t cosmetic; it reflects the chemical makeup of the nectar the bees collected, which also determines flavor, aroma, and antioxidant content.
Plants That Produce White Honey
Several flowering plants consistently yield pale honey. Clover is the most significant: white clover, red clover, and sweet clover contribute more to honey production in the United States than any other plant group. Clover honey ranges from nearly clear to light amber with a sweet, mild, flowery taste that most people think of as “classic” honey flavor.
Alfalfa honey, produced across the U.S. and Canada from purple alfalfa blossoms, is light in color with a mild flavor and a beeswax-like aroma. Sage honey, primarily from California, is light, heavy-bodied, and has a delicate, pleasant flavor. Fireweed honey, gathered from a perennial herb that colonizes land after forest fires, is also notably pale. Acacia honey (from the black locust tree) is one of the lightest honeys available and is popular in Europe for its clean, almost neutral sweetness.
Kiawe Honey: Hawaii’s High-End White Variety
One of the most prized white honeys in the world comes from the kiawe tree in Hawaii. Kiawe honey is a monofloral honey, meaning over 99% of its nectar comes from a single plant species. It’s produced almost exclusively in isolated kiawe forests on the Big Island, particularly around the Puako area, where the trees’ deep taproots reach volcanic freshwater aquifers. This unique mineral-rich environment shapes the honey’s composition.
What sets kiawe honey apart, beyond its naturally white color after crystallization, is its harvesting difficulty. Beekeepers have a window of just a few hours to extract the honey. Too early and the honey hasn’t matured enough, risking fermentation. Too late and it crystallizes inside the comb, requiring heat extraction that degrades quality. This precision, combined with geographic scarcity, pushes prices to around $50 per jar.
The Crystallization Connection
Some honey sold as “white honey” is actually creamed honey, a product where crystallization has been deliberately controlled to create a smooth, opaque, spreadable texture. The process works by mixing a small amount of already-crystallized honey into liquid honey. This “seed” encourages the liquid honey to form tiny, uniform crystals rather than the large, gritty ones that develop in uncontrolled crystallization. The mixture is stored at a cool temperature, and the result is a thick, pale spread that looks white or ivory.
Creamed honey can be made from any variety, but honeys that are already light in color produce the whitest final product. If you see white honey in a tub with a butter-like consistency, that’s almost certainly creamed honey rather than a rare floral variety.
Antioxidants and Nutrition
White honey contains fewer antioxidants than darker varieties. This is a consistent finding across research. In a comparison of Polish honeys, acacia honey (one of the lightest) contained about 17 mg of phenolic compounds per 100 grams, while buckwheat honey (one of the darkest) packed nearly 186 mg, roughly 11 times more. The same pattern held for phenolic acids: buckwheat had about 19 mg per 100 grams compared to just 3 to 5 mg in the lighter honeys. Gallic acid, a specific protective compound, measured 96 micrograms per gram in acacia honey versus 296 in buckwheat.
Dark and medium-colored honeys also generate more hydrogen peroxide, which contributes to antimicrobial activity. Light-colored honeys don’t share this trait to the same degree. So while white honey is perfectly nutritious as a sweetener, choosing darker honey gives you a measurably higher dose of plant-based protective compounds.
That said, the calorie and sugar content of honey doesn’t vary much by color. A tablespoon of white honey delivers roughly the same energy as a tablespoon of dark honey, and the glycemic index is similar across types. Clover honey has a glycemic index of about 69, while buckwheat comes in at 73. The difference is too small to matter for blood sugar management.
White Honey for Coughs
Honey’s reputation as a cough remedy has solid clinical backing, and lighter honeys are commonly used in studies. A single dose of honey can reduce mucus secretion and suppress coughing in children. In clinical trials, honey performed better than no treatment for nighttime cough, slightly better than the antihistamine diphenhydramine, and roughly equal to dextromethorphan, the active ingredient in most over-the-counter cough syrups. An Italian study of 134 children found that honey mixed with milk reduced coughing by more than 50% in 80% of participants, a result statistically comparable to OTC cough medications.
This matters because common cough medicines for children have a weak evidence base. A Cochrane review of over 600 children found no clear evidence that OTC cough preparations work better than placebo. Honey, including mild-flavored white varieties that children are more likely to accept, offers a simple alternative. One critical exception: honey of any color should never be given to children under one year old. It can contain spores of the bacteria that cause infant botulism, and a baby’s immature digestive system can’t prevent those spores from growing.
Cooking With White Honey
White honey’s mild flavor makes it one of the most versatile types in the kitchen. Darker honeys like buckwheat or chestnut have strong, distinctive tastes that can overpower delicate dishes. White clover, acacia, or alfalfa honey, by contrast, adds sweetness without competing with other ingredients. This makes them ideal for salad dressings, light sauces, tea, and baked goods where you want honey’s moisture and binding properties without a heavy flavor footprint.
When baking, lower your oven temperature by about 25°F compared to what you’d use with refined sugar. Honey’s natural sugars caramelize at lower temperatures, which creates beautiful browning but also increases the risk of burning. For meat or vegetable glazes, brush honey on during the last few minutes of cooking. Root vegetables like carrots and parsnips develop a glossy, caramelized finish, and chicken thighs get a golden-brown crust without charring.
How to Choose White Honey
If you’re buying white honey for its mild taste, clover and acacia are the most widely available and affordable options. For something more distinctive, sage and fireweed honeys offer subtle complexity while staying in the light color range. If you want the spreadable, butter-like texture, look for creamed honey, which is sometimes labeled as whipped or spun honey.
Raw white honey will eventually crystallize on its own, which is normal and doesn’t indicate spoilage. You can gently warm the jar in warm water to return it to a liquid state. Storing honey at room temperature slows crystallization, while refrigeration speeds it up. Regardless of color or variety, honey stored in a sealed container at room temperature keeps indefinitely.