Exceptional Organic Honey

With complete traceability from flower to palate, our honeys are minimally handled by the beekeeper between the hive and the jar. They mature in cool, dark conditions immediately after harvest in our organic reserve and are offered to you in limited quantities. Gastronomic honeys selected by tasters who describe the flavor and texture on the label, all of our honeys are artisanal, raw, certified organic, Paleo, and adhere to the Gentle BeekeepingⓇ Charter.

Exceptional organic artisanal Honey

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HOW DO BEES MAKE HONEY?

Bees make honey by collecting nectar from flowers and transforming it inside their hive. Here are the detailed steps of how they make honey:

  1. Nectar collection: Forager bees search for food in the area around the hive. They visit flowers rich in nectar and use their tongue, called a proboscis, to draw nectar out of the flowers. Nectar is a sugary solution produced by flowers to attract pollinators and encourage pollination.

  2. Nectar storage: Once a forager bee has collected enough nectar, she stores it in her crop, a special pouch located in her abdomen. The crop is an extension of her stomach, where the nectar is temporarily stored during the flight back to the hive.

  3. Transferring the nectar to worker bees: Back at the hive, the forager regurgitates the nectar stored in her crop and passes it on to a receiving worker bee. This transfer process is repeated several times until the nectar is partially transformed.

  4. Turning nectar into honey: As the nectar is passed from the forager to the worker bees, it undergoes an enzymatic transformation. The worker bees add specific enzymes to the nectar to break it down into two simple sugars: glucose and fructose. It is this enzymatic transformation that gives honey its antibacterial properties and long shelf life.

  5. Storage and evaporation: The transformed nectar is deposited into the hive's cells, small hexagon-shaped structures. The bees ventilate the hive by fanning their wings to speed up the evaporation of the water contained in the nectar. This evaporation reduces the nectar's water content, which is essential for honey to keep for a long time.

  6. Capping: Once the honey has reached the right consistency, the bees cap the cells by covering the honey with a thin layer of wax, forming a kind of lid. This capping protects the honey from moisture and outside contaminants, preserving its freshness until the bees need to consume it.

The surplus honey stock in the hive serves as a food reserve for the colony. Our gentle beekeepers make sure to harvest only the surplus, leaving the hives with enough resources to get through winter with complete peace of mind.

Honey production is generally most active during the warm seasons and the spring and summer months, when flowers are abundant and bees have access to a variety of nectar sources (lavender, linden, acacia, forest, mountain, heather, fir) to the delight of honey lovers.

WHAT MAKES BALLOT-FLURIN HONEYS SPECIAL?

Ballot-Flurin honeys stand out for several distinctive qualities that have earned them their reputation:

  • Gentle, respectful beekeeping: We place great emphasis on beekeeping that respects bees and their environment. Our beekeepers use gentle beekeeping practices, looking after the wellbeing of the hives and preserving biodiversity.

  • Organic, high-quality honey: Our honeys are certified organic, meaning they are produced without the use of harmful chemicals such as pesticides and herbicides. This guarantees a pure, unaltered, high-quality honey.

  • Harvested in small quantities: We favor responsible harvesting in small quantities to protect the health of the bees and their ecosystem. This also helps preserve the nutrient richness of the honey.

  • Artisanal, traditional methods: We value artisanal, traditional honey-making methods, using techniques that respect the bees' natural cycles. Hive products are jarred by hand in our honey house in France, in the heart of the Pyrenees mountains.

  • Raw organic honey, never heated, never blended: Our honeys are dynamized and come from Gentle Beekeeping®, harvested at full maturity in keeping with the sun's rhythm and the seasons; they are never heated to high temperatures, nor pasteurized, from extraction to jarring. This preserves the honey's enzymes and nutrients, giving it a higher nutritional value.

  • Health and wellness products: Besides honey, we offer preparations to look after your health, made from high-quality organic hive materials such as propolis, royal jelly, pollen and bee venom.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF HONEY?

Honey is a naturally sweet product made by bees from flower nectar. It has been used for culinary and medicinal purposes for thousands of years. The benefits of honey are many and varied. Here are a few of them:

  • Antibacterial properties: Honey naturally contains enzymes and compounds that give it antibacterial properties, which can help prevent infection and promote wound healing.

  • Soothes coughs and sore throats: Honey is often used to relieve coughing and sore throats. It can form a soothing coating in the throat and reduce irritation.

  • Rich in antioxidants: Honey contains antioxidants that help fight free radicals in the body, which can help reduce oxidative stress and protect cells from damage.

  • Natural source of energy: Honey is mainly made up of natural sugars, such as glucose and fructose, which provide quick, lasting energy.

  • Improves digestion: Honey can be beneficial for digestive health, notably by encouraging the growth of good bacteria in the gut.

  • Healing properties: Applied to minor wounds, honey can help speed up the healing process and reduce inflammation.

  • Improves sleep: Honey can help promote restful sleep. Consumed before bed, it can have a calming, relaxing effect.

  • Skin care: Honey is used in certain skincare products for its moisturizing and soothing properties. It can help relieve dry, irritated skin.

OUR ORGANIC HONEYS

Lavender Honey: This honey is creamy, with a light color and a delicate flavor featuring floral, slightly fruity notes. It can be used as a natural sweetener in hot drinks, desserts and recipes.

Acacia Honey: Known for its very light color and its texture, which always stays liquid, it is often a favorite among honey lovers who appreciate a subtle, mild-tasting honey. Its slow crystallization is an advantage for those who prefer their honey liquid for longer.

Thyme Honey: This honey stands out for its amber to dark color and its intense flavor, offering herbal, slightly spicy notes and nuances. Thyme honey is valued for its antiseptic properties and its health benefits, particularly for coughs and sore throats.

Honeydew Honey: Honeydew honey is produced by bees that gather honeydew, a sweet substance secreted by insects such as aphids. The bees then transform the honeydew into honey inside the hive. This honey is often dark in color, with an intense, complex taste featuring notes of caramel and dried fruit. Honeydew honey is prized for its antioxidant properties and unique aromas.

It's worth noting that the flavor, color and properties of honey can vary depending on the floral sources and harvesting regions. Each type of honey offers a different tasting experience and can be enjoyed for its unique characteristics.

All our honeys are unique, and our hives are placed by our Gentle Beekeepers in wild, protected terroirs in France, Spain and Italy: linden, mountain, fir, acacia, rhododendron, coriander, thyme, lavender, heather, forest, chestnut...

WHY SHOULD HONEY NEVER BE HEATED?

Honey is a natural food rich in nutrients, enzymes and health-boosting properties. It has antibacterial and antioxidant properties that make it effective at preventing infection and protecting the body. To preserve its benefits, it's best never to heat honey, as this can cause a loss of nutrients, a reduction in its antibacterial activity and a degradation of its original qualities. Heated honey can also alter its taste and texture and speed up crystallization. To fully enjoy its benefits, it is recommended to consume honey raw, gently stirring it into warm liquids if needed.


HOW SHOULD HONEY BE STORED?

Inside the hive, honey is kept at a temperature between 34° and 37°C. Honey can be kept at room temperature, so there's no need to store it in the fridge. During honey production, bees remove a significant amount of the water contained in the nectar.

Honey is therefore a naturally concentrated product, which makes it unfavorable to fermentation. What's more, its concentration of active compounds (notably antioxidants and various antibacterial substances) makes it very stable.

Unfortunately, in honeys found in supermarkets, rushed harvesting and heating destroy the precious enzymes and antioxidant compounds that make honey almost indefinitely stable. Our honeys are dynamized and come from Gentle Beekeeping®: harvested at full maturity in keeping with the sun's rhythm and the seasons, they are never heated, either at extraction or at jarring.

We therefore indicate a Best-Before Date (BBD) that takes into account only the moisture content (which affects the honey's potential fermentation), calculated as follows: below 16%: keeps up to 50 years; 16 to 17%: keeps up to 30 years; 17 to 18%: keeps up to 12 years; 18 to 20%: keeps up to 7 years; above 20%: keeps up to 3 years.

However, if your honey has passed this date, feel free to keep it and use it in cooking, since even fermented honey can be a wonderful ingredient.