SWEDEN | Sw1, Island, Djurö | Sw2, Lapland | Sw3, Honeydew | Sw4, Haga palace | Sw5, Arctic | Sw6, Bell Heather | Sw7, Early Summer | Sw8, Heather | Sw9, Forest Berry | Sw10, Linden |

Sw7, Early summer Honey, creamed

The honey

My honey was slinged in late May this year and is the result of the first blooming of the season. It has a gentle aroma, a mild taste and has this year a water content of 17%.

This light, almost white honey contains more than 50% of rapeseed (canola) (Brassica napus ssp. napus) Brassica and also blueweed (Echium vulgare) and other plants in the Brassicaceae family.

Due to its high content of glucose, the honey has a tendency to solidify and must be collected directly after the high contented glucose rich plants has stopped its blooming as otherwise it is impossible to extract from the cells. This type of crystalline honey has a sugary consistency. I stir the honey to get a stable, smooth, soft and spreadable consistency.

Here up north we get a real winter and with it can come colds and flus. Then a cup of “honungsvatten” (hot water with honey) will relieve a sore throat and smooth the cough. Another favourite in my household is my homemade granola with honey or just honey on a slice of hard bread.

The Beekeeping

My apiary is located in the south of Sweden, on the east coast of Skåne, 2 km from the Baltic Sea. It is an active agricultural area with woods as well as open fields. Our farm is surrounded by natural meadows that are grazed during summer and have been tended to in a similar way for more than hundred years. This creates a diversity of flowers during the season. My Buckfast bees are known for their health, durability to different weather conditions and are docile and effective honey producers. I have the apiary on my own land and tend them by myself. The picture on the label is an old painting “gåramålning” of our farm, Ängagården. Due to the importance of pollinated insects, I take the opportunity to give my buyers some significant information about our winged little friends.

“A bee produces about 1 teaspoon of honey in its lifetime. For every gram of honey, the bee must visit 50,000 flowers. They can fly 3 km away from their hive and have a maximum speed of 24 km/h. A bee colony can contain 80,000 bees but has only one queen. Two-thirds of the world's food crops require pollination.”

Eva Dueck