Honey is one of the most authentic taste experiences that exists: nature in its pure form, exactly how it should be savored. Here, we’ll explain how Brezzo brings honey to your table, respecting its natural perfection.
Honey is born perfect. During its production cycle, it undergoes very few manipulations (or none at all), from production by bees to harvest, filtering, and packaging. Honey deserves a deep respect in terms of its producers, the bees, and towards the product itself, which should be gathered and consumed with attention and care so as not to alter its natural characteristics and rapport with the territory that it expresses.
FRUIT OF A DIFFICULT BALANCE The production of honey requires the ideal combination of numerous factors. The climate, bees, and flowers must interact perfectly for a good harvest. It’s not sufficient that there are just flowers for bees to make honey, but there must also be the right temperature and humidity conditions that allow the flowers to produce nectar. The balance is delicate and difficult to obtain, especially in these past few years in which, unfortunately, climate change is disrupting the balance.
How do we produce our honey? We’ll tell you in a few simple steps.
NATURE’S NECTAR
Honey is the masterpiece of bees, and it has two primary ingredients:
- The nectar – not the pollen – of flowers. The forager bees ingest this viscous, sugary substance from the flower’s glandular organs.
- The honeydew. This sugary secretion is produced by small insects that feed on plant sap. Bees collect the honeydew from stems and leaves where it has been deposited in areas where nectar is scarce, like in forests.
Forager bees can transport up to 5 kg of nectar in one day, visiting over 200,000 flowers. Each bee can also travel 40 km in a 3 km range, visiting over 150 flowers to fill its pollen basket, or corbicula.
FROM THE FLOWER TO THE STOMACH
Once the nectar or honeydew is collected, the first transformation of the material happens within the bee in its stomach. The nectar mixes with the bee’s saliva, which enriches it with enzymes that turn sucrose into glucose and fructose. Honey begins its transformation in the stomach of bees!
DRYING THE HONEY
The foragers deposit the nectar in the hexagonal wax cells of their hive, which serve as storage areas and together form the honeycomb. Here, a very interesting process takes place. The bees flap their wings to dry out the honey, evaporating water and allowing for longer conservation. This process takes about a month until the honey reaches the right degree of water content. At this point, the worker bees seal it in the wax cells, called “capping.”
Honey doesn’t need conservatives because the bees already treat it as a long-term food supply!
A CAREFUL BURGLARY
The apiculturist’s work is to pull off, essentially, a burglary. But this is done with gentleness and great care, and not all the honey is extracted. Only the excess honey is “stolen,” that which is contained in the supers (the upper section of the hive). The stored honey in the hive is never touched, because it provides nutrients and replenishment for the bees. Using a special tool, the cells are uncapped and the honey can be extracted.
ROUND AND ROUND
At this point, the extracted hive is put in a rotating cylinder that extracts the honey via centrifuge.
THE OPPOSITE OF DECANTING
Honey has no need of chemicals or temperature interventions. It is filtered and gathered in stainless steel containers where it rests and purifies via a type of decantation. Air bubbles that were created during the centrifuge rise to the surface, with all impurities. The pure honey is heavier, and so remains on the bottom.
JARRING
The honey, free of impurities, can now be jarred. During the entire production process, the honey is never altered chemically or thermally, but goes from the hive to the jar using only mechanical means.
To avoid pumping the honey, our decanters are located one level lower than the extractors, avoiding manipulations and alterations to maintain purity.
NO ADDITIONS OR PASTEURIZATION
We add no additional honey to the original, which some do to obtain uniform crystallization. This would spoil the genuineness of the product and disconnect it from its territory. Brezzo honey is also not pasteurized. It is never subjected to high temperatures to liquify it to help with jarring.
Pasteurization makes the honey more fluid and thus easier to jar, but it alters its authenticity, destroying the living components of the honey (the enzymes, which carry beneficial properties).
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