Delta Honeycomb Honey, 500 g

This is bee honey with pieces of honeycomb from Delta, a brand sold in Egyptian shops as asal shamaa Delta; asal shamaa, "wax honey", is the Egyptian name for honey in the comb. The comb is the bees' own store: six-sided cells of beeswax filled with honey. In this jar pieces of comb sit in liquid honey, and the 500 g is the honey and the comb weighed together; how much of it is comb varies from jar to jar. We sell the 500 g jar exactly as it comes from the maker, unopened. We do not open, blend or repack it, so the jar you receive carries Delta's own label, with its ingredient line and its best-before date.

Expect two textures in one spoonful: liquid bee honey, sweet and mild, and the comb, whose wax cells give way when you bite and leave a soft, chewy wax that tastes of very little. Colour and taste change from harvest to harvest with the flowers the bees visited, so one jar can be a shade lighter or darker than another.

In Egypt honey in the comb belongs to breakfast. A piece of comb goes on feteer meshaltet, the flaky layered pastry, with qishta, the thick cream skimmed from boiled milk, or on warm bread next to white cheese, and some people simply eat a spoon of comb on its own. The same maker's honey is also in this category without the comb, as Delta Bee Honey - Glass Jar, and with black seed, as Delta Honey with Black Seed, 1 kg.

Cut out a piece of comb with a spoon or a knife, with some of the honey around it. Spread it on feteer, bread or toast, pressing the cells open with the back of the spoon, or chew it straight from the spoon: the honey runs out, and the soft wax that is left can be swallowed or set aside. Always use a dry, clean spoon: a drop of water in the jar can make honey ferment.

Honey is not for babies under 12 months. Do not give it to an infant in food or in drinks, or on a dummy: this is the standard food-safety advice for all honey, whatever the brand. For young children, cut the comb into small pieces.

What this page does not claim. It names no flower source, no place where the honey was gathered and no grade, and it says nothing about how the honey was processed: for those, read the label on the jar. Honey is also widely sold with long lists of claimed effects, and this listing repeats none of them. It is sold as food, and nothing here is a health claim or medical advice.

Keep the jar tightly closed at room temperature, away from the sun and the stove; honey does not need the fridge, and cold makes it crystallise faster. Crystallising is normal for honey: it slowly turns cloudy and thick or sets firm, and it has not gone off. Honey in the comb crystallises too, in the cells and around the pieces; eat it as it is, spread or chewed. Do not warm the jar to make it runny: heat melts the wax comb. The best-before date is printed on the jar.