Finding really good honey is easier said than done (read more about it here) ... But since we – like you? – are real honey fans and believe that it should have a permanent place in any well-stocked range, we have enthusiastically set out to discover a new "honey source" for you.
After extensive research and numerous tastings, we have finally found a new producer who has completely won us over: Julien Bourrette and his beehives ("Mes ruches" means "My beehives" in German).
The honey from "Mes ruches" comes from Languedoc-Roussillon in southern France, which stretches from the Pyrenees to the Provence-Côte d’Azur along the Mediterranean coast.
The region includes several larger cities (Montpellier, Nîmes, Perpignan), but is otherwise very rural. Famous sights and excursion destinations include the Canal du Midi, the Pont du Gard, and numerous caves and stalactite caves.
In this beautiful landscape, Bourrette and his partner Johanne Baux have a wild stock of 100 beehives with a total of 350 colonies. Julien has been passionately involved in beekeeping as a hobby since 2006 – since 2010 he has been dedicating himself to this task professionally and full-time.
For Julien and Johanne, the bees are the main focus. They move their beehives to areas where intensive agriculture is not practiced and only the best flowers grow. This method is called transhumance. In this way, they keep their bees away from pesticides and intensive agriculture.
Since the work is time-consuming, sometimes difficult, and also costly, the two have launched a kind of crowdfunding scheme in which sponsorships for the beehives are awarded.
In addition to the wonderful certainty of supporting Julien and Johanne's beekeeping through such a sponsorship, the bee sponsors also benefit from lower honey prices. That is something to think about ...
"Mes ruches" produces the following types of honey, depending on the season and the condition of the flowers and trees in question: lavender, grey heather (bruyère cendrée), chestnut, Causses du Larzac, garrigue (miel de garrigue), mountain honey (miel de montagne).
We were lucky enough to be able to taste them all and are completely won over by every single variety. The consistency of the honey is sensationally crystalline and creamy, and the respective aromas stand out individually and very clearly. This is really something different from supermarket honey!
To taste the honey "properly", it is best to take a small amount and simply place it on your tongue. The honey begins to melt on your tongue and dissolve into its individual crystals due to the saliva. In doing so, the aromas are released, which you can now taste through the taste buds on your tongue, but also through your nose. A real experience!
For now, we have added the following 3 varieties to our range: Lavender, Grey heather (bruyère cendrée), Mountain honey from the Ardèche.
The others are – due to seasonal peculiarities – only available later in the year. We are already looking forward to the first 3 new additions to the honey shelf and soon to the ones that follow!
