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Our house is located in Trieste, on one of the hills that surround this beautiful city by the sea. The cats and their kittens live in close contact with us. They are well behaved cats that are used to living in an apartment, they are very affectionate and love company, even that of other animals, as long as they have a good character and are friendly. In the spring, when the weather is nice, and in the summer they love to bask in the sun on the ledges and terraces, with as background the humming of many others friends that represent another big family passion: the bees. In the woods of Monte Orsenigo, in some beehives, lives in our family of bees. It’s a marvelous oasis for them, rich in local flora and far away from any kind of contamination. Observing a cat is undoubtedly a fun activity, especially when it plays with its kittens. But to open an apiary, remove a “tray” and “study” it with attention means discovering a whole new and enchanting world. Besides the physical difference between a cat and a bee, which is obvious to everyone, even the philosophy of life is very different. I have never seen a living thing busy like a bee. Not even the life of the busiest of men in the world is equal to that of a bee. The bee lives to guard its queen and apiary, it does not know selfishness, and is very brave. We have a lot to learn from this marvelous and generous being. We belong to the Beekeepers Consortium of Trieste and in 2007 we attended a very interesting course on beekeeping conducted very professionally by the Beekeepers Consortium of Gorizia. The harvesting of honey is done twice a year. Our bees are specialized in honey millefiori because in our woods there is no prevalence of a specific flower or tree, but there are many different varieties typical of the Carso. At the beginning of summer we collect spring honey millefiiori, and at the end of summer we have the summer honey millefiori; the flowers are different in those periods of time. Our honey is 100% natural, they do not contain preservatives, they are not pasteurized, but are bottled directly after one month of maturing, maintaining this way all the essential natural elements. The life of the beekeeper is very satisfying. You work in an open space, in the middle of the woods, between the perfume of the honey and bee-glue. Upon returning to my house after an afternoon spent with the bees, I see life from another perspective and I realize how fantastic, perfect and marvelous nature really is.
Home of the bees
The practical apiculture started when man decided to keep bees inside containers in order to have easier access to the honey. The technical aspects of apiculture have changed with time. Proof of this is the hive. At the beginning it was made of one container and the honeycombs were fixed; later the hives had fixed honeycombs, but they were made up of two parts, the cap and the honeycombs; finally the beehives and honeycombs became movable. Most likely the primitive man most used an empty tree trunk, cut and then closed at both ends. During the time of Charlemagne the hay apiary was popular while the antique Romans and Greeks used an apiary made of pieces of wood shaped like a parallelepiped with a removable bottom. The apiarian techniques had a big boost with the introduction of the honeycomb, where the bees can store the honey and the beekeeper could collect it without destroying the nest. The Greeks were the first to introduce in the beehive wooden rods, the first trays. In the beginning the trays were the same size of the beehive and the bees would weld the trays to the walls with bee-glue. Finally in 1851 Langstroth discovered “the bee space” and improved the beehive with removable trays. In one of his later literary works he described in detail the use of this type of beehive. The trays in this case were hung leaving a space between them of 9.5 mm so that the beekeeper could remove the trays without any problems. The apiary could then be completed adding other parts, like where the bees hatch or for the storage of the honey. This is how the modern apiary is born and is the one, except for a few changes, that we still use today.
The main product of my bees: honey millefiori
This honey, if produced during the first part of spring, is characterized by the delicate aroma of various herbaceous clover.
Brief description of the product
The honey “millefiori” (thousand flowers) produced in the Carsic area of Friuli Venezia Giulia comes mostly from the nectar of numerous herbaceous plants present in the brush of the natural meadows (i.e. Landa Carsica), plus some other shrubs. If produced during the first part of spring, it’s more liquid, distinguished by the bitter aroma of the morel cherry (Prunus Mahaleb). If it’s produced later it’s distinguished by various herbaceous plants that give it a delicate aroma; in this case it stays liquid for a longer time and it has an amber color. Sometimes it can become crystallized because of the presence of the nectar from linden (Tilia spp.)
This honey represents a typical pollen spectrum because of the presence of pollen belonging to both continental and mediterrannan floral elements . The most distinguishable pollen forms that result are Rhamnaceae (Paliurus, Rhamnus e Frangula), Castanea, Cotinus coggygria, Fraximus ornus, Aesculus, Cruciferae, Coronilla/Hippocrepis Asparagus acutifolius and, in a small amount, Parthenocissus, Lotusconiculatus, Prunus mahaleb, Filipendula, Ligustrum.
The honey millefiori is put into glass jars with a tin lid in sizes of 250, 500 and sometimes 1000 g.
Description of the processing method and of conserving of the product
The bee families are bred in wooden beehives. In order to take advantage of the first blooms and prolific meadows the beekeepers put in motion a series of techniques (i.e.. stimulating nutrition, family reunions) in order to attract numerous families at the beginning of spring. The flowering of the Carso used to obtain the honey millefiori comes around the first ten days of April and the first days of July; afterwards the blooms are less frequent (due to the dry summer), in which case the gathering is left to the bees so that they can make their winter supply. Nomadism is not used to obtain this product.
After the first main blooms, the honeycombs are covered in wax, removed from the beehives and brought to the lab (Sala di smelatura = where the honey is removed from the honeycombs). Afterwards we proceed in removing the wax covering and the honey is removed via centrifugation. The honey is then filtered, put into stainless steel containers and left to settle for at least two weeks. The foam and impurities that rise are eliminated.
During the period of one year, in order to get this product we do at least two or three “smelature” at different times.
Elements proving that the methods used are homogeneous and according to the traditional rules for a period of not less than 25 years
The honey millefiori owes its typicality to its taste, and to its color (beige, more or less dark). Since the honey is multifloral (it comes from the nectar of numerous plants), the standard of quality is not constant in the different areas where it’s produced because this depends on the vegetative characteristics of the different zones and from the timing of the “smelatura” (when the honey is removed from the honeycombs).
The honey millefiori of the Carso is produced according to an old tradition of the beekeepers of the main areas of Friuli Venezia Giulia, and therefore being one of the main products of the local apiculture. In 1933 professor Francesco Blasi, in one of his manuals of apiculture, (edited by the Cattedra Ambulante di Agricoltura for the province of Trieste), mentions as one of the typical honeys of the Carso the “Honey millefiori of the Carso. Amber yellow, aromatic, very appreciated.” (Blasi, 1933). Some years later in an updated edition of the same manual reference is made to “The flora, rich in aromatic plants of the carsic pastures, offers the bees a prized treasure, but intermittently, because of the dry weather. (Blasi, 1948).
The Consortium of beekeepers of the province of Trieste
The Consortium of beekeepers of the province of Trieste is the smallest, but also the “youngest” Italian apiarian organization. Almost all the beekeepers of the province belong to it: about 100, almost all of them part-time, for a total of 1,000 beehives located all over the provincial territory. This activity helps the agriculture, in that the pollination produced by the bees guarantees the fertility of the plants, which translates into the production of more fruit and more cheese for the zootechnics. For this reason the bee represents one of the main motiv why we should protect our territory.Our honeys, with their distinctive organic characteristics and also for the capability of the professionals in this sector, are well known both regionally and nationally, obtaining first place in contests in this sector. The honeys of Marasca, Linden, the typical Millefiori of the Carso, are well known even outside our region.
Springtime Millefiori of the Carsic land
Produced in the pastures and meadows of the highlands where spring brings on the contemporary blooming of numerous flowers. It is a honey very appreciated for its nutritional value.
COLOR: it varies from light to dark amber.
AROMA: intense fragrance, tied to the botanical essence from which it comes from.
TASTE: sweet, rich, pleasant, intense.
CRYSTALLIZATION: medium dimension.
Appreciated millefiori honey of our geographic region (Carso) is available; periods when the honey is removed from the honeycombs are the end of spring, year 2009, pots of 500 gr.
+ 039/040.0642255 - 328.8016928
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