As long as I can remember, I have always liked honey. My grandfather was a bee-keeper and we always had fresh honey comb in the summer and jars of golden honey for autumn and winter. Honey with white bread and butter was one of my favourite treats when I was little.

The bees are gone now, but I still love honey and am fascinated by different varieties of it. In Estonia, you can get excellent quality honey, but the varieties are limited. So I tend to hunt for honey everywhere: on my travels, in fancy supermarkets, online, in strange eco stores, when visiting friends. My current favourite is chestnut honey that often comes from Italy or Spain (this is the one I’ve got).

Chestnut honey is not for beginners: it’s intense and dark and complex with an almost bitter aftertaste. The flavour makes you think of wood and leather and smoke, of deep forests rather than sunny meadows. It’s still honey, of course, but it’s as far from the innocent linden and wholesome acacia varieties as you can get.

Like any other honey, you can just eat it as it is – and I do, although I find it’s difficult to eat much of it in one go. It works beautifully with cheeses, especially the pungent ones: gorgonzola or any goat cheese, for example. Naturally, it also pairs well with chestnut flour, so add it when you bake or drizzle it on chestnut crepes. One of my favourite combinations is chestnut honey with hazelnut flour, especially in small cakes or muffins: the woody-earthy-nutty flavours mix very nicely. And if this is still not enough taste for you, cut the muffin in half and spread some butter and chestnut honey on top.