What spices go with honey

Sharpness against sweetness, and one of the oldest domestic combinations in this dataset — in baking, in syrups, in drinks. Recorded as a culinary pairing; SpiceHQ holds no clinical source and makes no claim about it as a remedy.

Add alongside: Lemon, Cassia, Black pepper

Lavender honey is a named monofloral product across Provence, so the combination exists before anyone cooks anything. Honey is floral and sweet and lavender is floral and bitter, and the bitterness is what stops the pairing being cloying — which is also why the quantity has to be small.

How: Buds infused into warm honey and strained out; Brushed over baked stone fruit or a cake

Add alongside: Lemon, Rosemary, Vanilla

• Infuse and strain. Lavender left in a warm honey keeps extracting and turns soapy.

A pairing that runs from Greek and Levantine pastry through to spiced honey for cheese. Honey is floral and one-dimensionally sweet; cassia gives it a warm edge and makes it read as less cloying without reducing the sugar.

Add alongside: Cloves, Orange, Green cardamom

A resinous herb against a floral sugar, and the contrast holds because rosemary’s bitterness gives the honey something to work against. Rosemary honey is itself a named monofloral product around the Mediterranean, which is a reasonable argument that the combination is not an invention.

How: A sprig infused into warm honey and removed; Brushed over roasted root vegetables or lamb

Add alongside: Lemon, Black pepper

• Infuse and remove. Left in, the bitterness builds and overtakes the honey.

A traditional Persian and Middle Eastern combination in sweets and drinks. Honey's floral complexity meets saffron's honeyed note directly, and the sweetness offsets saffron's bitterness.

Add alongside: Green cardamom, Dried rose