Obviously we're a little biased, but we love using honey in cooking - especially dressings, marinades, and sauces! Naturally smooth and sweet, honey doesn't add the grittiness of sugar and even acts as an emulsifier to keep any water, oil, and vinegar from separating. Plus, honey is better for you than regular sugar!

But those are just the objective reasons to love using honey in your favorite marinades and sauces. Subjectively, we think honey is superior to sugar in cooking because it doesn't just add sweetness - honey adds flavor! Luckily you don't need to taste all our honeys (though you're certainly welcome to in our honey tasting room!) to figure out which one is right for you. While each honey has its own distinct flavor profile and notes, you can use the color of the honey as a pretty good gauge of flavor profile. Lighter honeys are more delicate and often floral or herbaceous in flavor, making them ideal for light herb dressings or marinades. Amber honeys are a happy medium and an excellent cabinet staple that plays well in just about everything. And dark honeys have more robust flavors that skew towards molasses and can sometimes even taste a little bitter, making them excellent additions to tomato-based and heavier sauces and marinades.

Choosing the right honey to complement your recipe really adds to the depth of flavors in your dishes and is also a lot of fun for home chefs who like to experiment. Below we break down our five favorite honeys for marinades and sauces, along with why - and when - we'd use each one!