Short answer
In the US, honey colour is designated in seven classes from Water White to Dark Amber, with equivalent ranges on the Pfund scale in millimetres. Colour depends mainly on the flowers the bees visited, and also on storage and heating, which darken honey over time. The USDA grading standard says outright that colour is not a factor of quality: grades A to C are scored on other properties.
The Pfund grader compares honey in a wedge-shaped glass cell with a standard amber glass wedge. The reading is the position along the wedge, in millimetres, at which the honey and the standard match; darker honey matches the standard at a thinner point. Values run from near zero for almost colourless honey to well over 100 mm for dark honeys such as buckwheat. The USDA standard defines its classes against its own approved colour standards and gives the Pfund range and the optical density of a matching caramel–glycerin solution for each, and notes that the Pfund grader itself is an industry device rather than the official one.
Nectar source is the main driver. Acacia, clover and fireweed honeys are pale; heather, chestnut, buckwheat and many forest or honeydew honeys are dark amber to almost black. Darker honeys tend to be richer in minerals and phenolic compounds, which absorb blue light more strongly. Processing and storage matter too: heating and time drive Maillard reactions between honey's sugars and amino acids and darken it, and the fructose-rich syrup is prone to caramelisation at high temperatures. Crystallised honey looks paler and more opaque than the same honey liquid, because crystals scatter light.
The standard's colour designations are made after adjusting for cloudiness, because crystals and fine particles scatter light and would make honey read paler.
US grades A, B and C and Substandard are scored on flavour and aroma, absence of defects, clarity and, for some styles, other factors — not on colour. Colour designation is recorded alongside so that buyers can specify what their market expects: pale honeys have traditionally sold at a premium in some markets, while dark honeys are valued in others. A dark honey is not a worse honey, and a pale one is not purer.
The Pfund scale is common internationally, but not every grading system uses the USDA class names, and laboratories also report honey colour as absorbance or CIELAB values from a colorimeter. When comparing figures, check which scale and which conditions were used; a Pfund reading, an absorbance reading and a CIELAB lightness are not interchangeable without a conversion measured for that instrument.
| Designation | Pfund scale | Optical density of matching caramel–glycerin solution |
|---|---|---|
| Water White | 8 mm or less | 0.0945 |
| Extra White | over 8 to 17 mm | 0.189 |
| White | over 17 to 34 mm | 0.378 |
| Extra Light Amber | over 34 to 50 mm | 0.595 |
| Light Amber | over 50 to 85 mm | 1.389 |
| Amber | over 85 to 114 mm | 3.008 |
| Dark Amber | over 114 mm | — |
Each statement is labelled by kind — established fact, a standard’s requirement, observed market data, a convention, or Colourwise’s own interpretation or analysis — with the strength of the evidence behind it.
StandardStrong evidence· United States
The USDA standard for extracted honey defines seven colour designations — Water White, Extra White, White, Extra Light Amber, Light Amber, Amber and Dark Amber — with Pfund-scale ranges of 8 mm or less, over 8 to 17, over 17 to 34, over 34 to 50, over 50 to 85, over 85 to 114, and over 114 mm.
Source: United States Standards for Grades of Extracted Honey (fifth issue, effective 23 May 1985)
StandardStrong evidence· United States
Under the USDA standard, the colour of extracted honey is not a factor of quality for the purpose of the grades.
Source: United States Standards for Grades of Extracted Honey (fifth issue, effective 23 May 1985)
StandardStrong evidence
The standard determines colour against USDA-approved colour standards after adjusting for cloudiness, and describes the Pfund grader as an industry device that is not the officially approved one.
Source: United States Standards for Grades of Extracted Honey (fifth issue, effective 23 May 1985)
FactModerate evidence
Honey darkens with heating and storage because its sugars take part in non-enzymatic browning, so a colour designation describes the sample at the time of testing.
Reviewed 29 September 2026. Colourwise summarises its sources in its own words and does not reproduce standards text or proprietary colour data. Spotted an error? Tell us.