Honey is usually relegated to a pantry shelf, brought out on occasion to enjoy in a cup of tea. Once a year, though, honey gets its due. The upcoming Jewish New Year is a great excuse to explore the wide world of this golden nectar.

It’s traditional to enjoy some honey during Rosh Hashana to express the hope that the coming year will be sweet. But honey is more than a source of mere sweetness. These days, artisanal honeys have nuanced flavors and varied textures, and hail from picturesque locales like the forests of Tasmania and the volcanoes of Hawaii. So go beyond simply dipping an apple slice in generic clover honey – share the sweetness by hosting a honey tasting.

Start by asking your guests to bring some nectar to the hive – in other words, to converge at your place with an interesting jar of honey. It can be tough to find truly good honey, since most of the jars on supermarket shelves are heavily processed honeys from large overseas companies. Domestic honeys can be rather unremarkable, as well. Most of them come from bees that have been carted across the country to pollinate plants at various farms, so the honey that they make can lack the clear flavor of its source.

So without being too bossy, try to encourage your guests to seek out raw, unfiltered honeys from small apiaries. These honeys are more likely to taste distinctly of their stated flowers, with nuances that mass-market honeys only dream of. They also have higher amounts of pollen and enzymes that some believe give honey therapeutic qualities. Higher-quality honeys are more likely to come in flavors much more interesting than mere orange blossom and wildflower. Cranberry, avocado, tupelo, and blueberry are just a few of the possibilities.

Pour your glorious honeys into individual bowls, and taste them plain from lightest to darkest. Next, treat the honeys like ready-made fondue, and set out foods to dip in them. The most obvious choice is apples – the tarter the better to contrast with all that sweetness. Granny Smiths work well, as do Mutsu and Empire varieties.

Lighter, more delicate honeys work perfectly with another classic accompaniment – challah. The eggy sweetness of brioche and panettone also work well. Procure an unsliced loaf and cut up some fat cubes, then toast them to give the texture a bit of backbone.

Salty and crunchy work well with sticky-sweet, too. And while I wouldn’t suggest pouring honey over French fries, strong-flavored honey is just perfect with warm buttermilk biscuits. Honey loves nuts, so walnut bread is another great choice, especially when first spread with farmer’s cheese.

If your guests hunger for more than just carbs to dip their honey in, cook up a batch of “honey-stung” fried chicken, drizzled with the sweet stuff. For extra unctuousness, squares of that honey-toned, hazelnut-studded candy, torrone, make for an even sweeter finish.

But you’ll be reassured to know that all this sweet indulgence has a practical purpose, too. Once you’ve tasted a bunch, you’ll know exactly which one you like best – and you won’t have 12 jars sitting in your pantry to show for it.

RECOMMENDED HONEY

A recent sampling of honeys at Whole Foods yielded some terrific finds:

Volcano Island Rare Hawaiian Organic White Honey ($12.99):From a single grove of kiawe trees on the Big Island of Hawaii, this organic raw honey is a lovely porcelain white, with a gentle aroma of vanilla and a creamy taste that hints of cherries.

Really Raw Honey ($4.79): This is honey at its most primitive, speckled with bits of honeycomb and pollen that lend it a deep, almost musky aroma and a delicate chewiness.

McLure’s Tupelo Honey ($4.99): The sweet nectar from the tupelo gum trees in northern Florida yields a golden honey with a greenish cast and an unusually crisp, clean taste. An added bonus: Because of its high fructose content, pure tupelo honey rarely crystallizes.

Mountain honey Blue Borage Honey ($15.99): Grassy, rich aroma, nuanced flavor, thick creaminess, and a long aftertaste characterize this medium-brown honey from New Zealand.

Fior di Frutta “From Organic Farming” Chestnut Italian Honey ($8.99): A cheese-lover’s honey, this nectar boasts an almost leathery scent and a flavor that’s a richer, nuttier, and rounder take on coffee, with a slight touch of bitterness in the finish.