Sam French

Sam French started Raw Honey Guide after noticing a persistent gap in consumer-facing information about raw honey's remarkable variety. Most buying guides treated honey as interchangeable — a sweetener that varied only by brand and price. Sam set out to build a reference that took floral source, origin, and production method as seriously as specialty coffee takes terroir.

He has spent the past several years building the site's catalog of 220+ varietals, drawing on peer-reviewed apiculture literature, national food-standards documents (Codex Alimentarius, EU Council Directive 2001/110/EC, and national standards from 20+ countries), and direct correspondence with beekeepers and producers. He has particular interest in honey authentication science — the chemical methods used to detect adulteration (NMR profiling, stable carbon isotope analysis, HPLC) — and in how international regulatory frameworks differ in their approach to honey quality and labeling.

The international guides on Raw Honey Guide are the product of sustained primary-source research: each country guide cites the relevant national standard, the dominant bee species (including indigenous Apis cerana, Apis dorsata, and stingless Meliponini where relevant), the key floral sources and seasonality, and the authentication or fraud challenges specific to that market. As of 2026, the site covers 21 countries across six continents.

Sam's editorial philosophy is straightforward: every factual claim should trace to a primary source, every recommendation should disclose uncertainty honestly, and no health content should claim more than the clinical evidence supports. All guides on Raw Honey Guide go through a documented review cycle with dated revisions.