Hello
I was wondering if someone could share his or her opinion on this. I’ve opened a jar of raw rapeseed honey (from about three months ago), and it has a strong (for me, bad) smell. I don’t make the honey myself (!) but I ate the exact same honey last summer (two jars) and it did not have that smell.
What could have caused this ? Seasonal factors ? Thanks !
OSR honey typically has a smell somewhere between overcooked (school cafeteria) cabbage and very ripe gym shoes. It usually tastes OK (perhaps a little bland) and it crystallizes very rapidly due to high glucose content. Some people use it to make creamed honey to improve the texture, but if the lid is not bowed outwards from fermentation pressure, it should be absolutely fine to eat.
Interesting. Was this always your experience with rapeseed honey ? Like I’ve said, this is actually the first time I’ve had to taste such a (stinky) one… And thanks for the answer !
I actually don’t care much for rapeseed honey, but yes, it is a general truth about that type of honey. It is one reason that it is generally not very popular, and you probably won’t find it on the supermarket shelf.
I would speculate that the jars you had previously were perhaps a blend of OSR with some other nectars which have a less pungent odour. It doesn’t mean that the beekeeper blended the honey, the bees may do it themselves in the hive. They just gather nectar from whatever is flowering, and so unless the hive is in an orchard or field with just one type of plant, you will always have a blend of flower sources in a jar of honey.
Bees are fascinating little creatures! 
Great info — thank you very much for the answer !
You put that so eloquently, makes me want to run out and try some.