Honey Labels
Honey gets on the outside of the jar. Not sometimes, always: it runs down the thread after pouring, it collects under the lid, and whoever is filling the jars has it on their hands. A label that cannot take that goes tacky at the edge and lifts, and the ink smears the first time somebody wipes it.
Labels that survive a sticky jar
Two decisions handle it. A synthetic facestock rather than uncoated paper, so nothing soaks in and a wipe with a damp cloth takes the honey off rather than the print. And a laminate or varnish over the artwork, so wiping does not scuff it. Together those turn a jar you have to handle carefully into one you can just clean.
The adhesive matters where honey has already run. A film of sugar syrup between the glass and the glue is close to the worst start a label can get, so the jars want to be clean and dry when the labels go on. Where that is not realistic on a small filling line, tell us and we will spec a higher tack adhesive that is more forgiving of it.
Glass jars, squeeze bottles and crystallisation
Glass is the easy surface, and it is where a honey label looks best: a clear label lets the colour of the honey itself sell the jar, which matters when your product varies from near-white clover to almost black buckwheat.
Squeeze bottles are the harder case. The bottle deforms every time it is used, so the label has to move with it rather than crease, which means conformable stock. Worth remembering too that raw honey crystallises, plenty of customers warm the jar to reverse it, and a label needs to come through that without the adhesive softening at the edges.
Five hives or five hundred
Honey is a category where the producers range from somebody with three hives at the bottom of the garden to a packer running pallets. We have no minimums, so a first run of a hundred jars is a normal order and nobody is pushed into buying five thousand labels to get a sensible price. Keep one base artwork and change only the varietal and the harvest year, and print lot codes variable on the same pass.
Custom printed or blank DIY honey labels
Full colour printed here in Henderson if your artwork is settled, or blank sheet labels you run yourself if you are writing the varietal on by hand each season. Free samples first if you want to test one on a jar with honey down the side, which is the only test that counts. What your jar is required to declare is a question for your regulatory adviser rather than for us.
Learn more
Popular label formats
Rolls, sheets and die-cut shapes — paper, coated paper, waterproof poly and more.
Need custom honey labels?
Tell us your product, size and quantity — we'll recommend the right material and send free samples.