Its sweetness has always won us over, and so have its beneficial properties. But it is important to choose it organic, produced without pesticides and with its organoleptic characteristics intact. And do you know what the differences are between the various types of honey?
Delicious eaten on its own, excellent for making cakes or biscuits or served alongside yoghurt, cereals or oilseeds, honey is the first sweetener in history. Its sweetness goes without saying — indeed this very quality, together with its warm, delicate hues with golden reflections, makes it a food that contributes to the wellbeing and joy of those who consume it. Its properties for the body are equally beyond question: rich in enzymes, proteins, vitamins and trace minerals, it is energising and stimulating. Its polyphenols also give it anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, purifying, antibiotic, soothing and laxative properties.
It must be said, however, that not all honeys are equally "good". Choosing organic honey, for example, means making a first quality choice. First and foremost, its production has a minimal ecological impact; furthermore, the ban on neonicotinoid pesticides prevents bee die-offs, as bees are insects fundamental to the balance of our ecosystem. Organic is the honey of Alce Nero, as are all of the more than three hundred products of this brand, which for over 30 years has been dedicated to producing food without the use of chemical substances and pesticides, while instead experimenting with new technologies always in respect of the countryside, a precious resource to be safeguarded. Among the founders of Alce Nero is Conapi (Consorzio nazionale apicoltori), which brings together 600 beekeepers from across Italy for a total of 63,000 hives.
The beekeeper has a number of hives (those wooden boxes you will all have in mind): inside are the beehive with the queen bee, the worker bees and the honey super where the honey is deposited. Beekeepers make sure the bees always have flowers and pastures available, so they move the hives at night from one place to another, always keeping them well away from cultivated roadsides or environments where pesticides are used. When the frames of the honey super (the hexagonal wax cells built by the bees) are full, it is time to collect the honey. The frames are centrifuged, the honey extracted, analysed and filtered, then brought to 40 degrees, the temperature it had in the hive, to keep its organoleptic characteristics intact (industrial honeys are instead pasteurised at 80/90 degrees).
Many types of honey are produced, each with its own colour and taste characteristics depending on the flowers from which the nectar and pollen were obtained and the place of production. Can you recognise and choose between them? Here are some pointers: acacia honey, characteristic of the Pre-Alps, Lombardy, Piedmont and Tuscany, is light in colour and has a delicate flavour; millefiori, which is produced from May to July throughout the Apennines, is more intense and persistent with a colour ranging from light to beige. Then there is orange blossom honey with a citrus flavour characteristic of southern Italy and the islands, obtained in spring, and chestnut honey, which is produced in all mountain areas in summer, with a liquid consistency, a reddish colour and a pungent aroma.