For thousands of years, the tradition of beekeeping and honey production have been practiced in Spain. In fact, one of the world’s oldest representations of the harvest of this valuable commodity can be found in the Valencia region. But Spanish bees have been far beyond their home borders (migrating long before the EU came into existence): In Central and South America, they proved vital in securing honey production. And if you have not yet tried the many delicacies Spanish bees and beekeepers produce “at home”, you have something to look forward to far beyond the famous “miel milflores”.
Long before sugar became such an everyday part of our diets, honey was what gave food its sweet flavor in most parts of the world. As early as 10,000 years ago, honey was found in almost all parts of Europe, Africa and Asia. The parts that were not still covered by ice that is.
Bees on long voyages and in the spider caves
You may have noticed that the American continent was left out of the list above? America did have bees at this time, and they were just as crucial to pollination there as anywhere else in the world. Bees and flowering plants have followed each other for millions of years – scientists believe they originated at about the same time 110-130 million years ago. But honey-producing bees were actually brought to the American continent by Europeans, primarily Spaniards and Englishmen.
Iberian bees traveled far and wide in ancient times. Spanish monks played a key role in the spread of honeybees on the American continent. Honeybees did not occur naturally in America. In Spain, monasteries had large country estates and farmed extensively – honey was not only important as a food, but also in contemporary medicine. It was therefore an obvious choice for the men of the church to bring the valuable European bees with them to South and Central America.
Honey is a rarer product than you might think: Of the approximately 20,000 known bee species on the planet, only between seven and 12 of them are capable of producing honey.
Even 10,000 years ago, the climate on the Iberian Peninsula was much more hospitable than in Northern Europe. And we know from cave paintings in the Valencia region that the locals from early on had a taste for the sweet.
In Cuevas de la Araña (or the Spider Caves) there are images of a human using ropes or a kind of ladder to get up and into a tree trunk where a colony of bees lives. The cave painting, which is estimated to be between 8,000 and 10,000 years old, is one of the very earliest depictions of “honey hunting”. By the way, the Cuevas de la Araña is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Vital bees
The FAO, UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, has compiled statistics which show that of the world’s 100 most important crops (which together give us more than 90 percent of the food we eat), as many as 71 are dependent on bee pollination. In short, bees are vital to humans. No wonder there has been a lot of attention about mass deaths in hives in large parts of the world in recent years.
Spanish beekeepers, like colleagues in a number of other countries, have suffered painful losses. Researchers have not unequivocally identified the causes of mass death among bees though. Presumably it is a complex picture, where widespread use of pesticides, new diseases, development of pristine natural areas and believe it or not: stress, all of which likely participate.
For beekeeping has in part become “big business”. In Spain, there are almost 2.9 million registered beehives and Spanish beekeepers extract around 36,000 tons of honey every year. Most of the honey is exported to countries in Europe. Professional and semi-professional beekeepers account for about two-thirds of the country’s honey production. The rest comes from breeders who produce what they need for their own use, “para la casa” and from small producers.
It is estimated that about 60 percent of large-scale producers in Spain practice extensive “beehive hiking”, i.e. beehives are transported over large distances and many times during a long summer season to pollinate various crops. For payment from farmers of course. But bees, like humans, can get also enough of “being on the go” so this hiking should be handled with care.
Honey with Spanish taste
The fact that bees are moved to where there are flowers is nothing new, but the distances have generally become longer and the journeys more frequent. Some Spanish beekeepers still persevere and adhere to traditional methods. You can still even find homemade, cylindrical cubes of cork, especially in the south of the country where the cork oak is a significant element in local forests.
When visiting Spanish outlets, you will first and foremost find honey marked “mil flores” – or thousand flowers. As is well known, honey takes the taste of the flower species that the diligent bees have visited and Spanish flower honey may therefore taste quite differently than flower honey from other areas or countries.
In addition, you will find a number of exciting Spanish honey varieties where the beehives have been located in areas dominated by, for example, citrus fruits, chestnut trees or wild herbs such as rosemary, lavender or thyme.
Such types of honey make a visit to a local beekeeper, market or specialty store well worth it. As we write this, we have dark and strong chestnut honey, light and fresh orange blossom honey and “spicy” thyme honey from small producers on the kitchen shelf. They rarely last long but these tastes are in a class of their own, whether you use honey on a slice of bread, pour it over ice cream, add it in the salad dressing or eat it some other way.
Modern research and traditional methods
In Spanish honey production, traditional and modern methods live side by side. Spanish beekeeping researchers are asserting themselves internationally. For example, at the University of Córdoba, researchers are looking into digital beehives, among other things.
Interestingly enough, in light of the new EU animal health law from 2021 which allows free movement of hives across national borders in the EU and the EEA (European Economic Area), the EU has provided significant financial support to Spanish beekeepers to try organic methods in their work. Here, too, Spanish universities and research communities are strongly engaged.
Many places in Spain have in recent years established committees that work to raise the quality of Spanish beekeeping. The committees can, among other things, award the ‘Denominacion de Origen’ (DO), a badge given to local specialty honey of particularly high quality.
Small-scale producers are hardly the ones who want to send their beehives out on long trips. They make a living by delivering local, unique honey makers. Have you tried any of them?
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