A producer from Harta promotes domestic honey by adopting a hive

By: STA Date: 2023. 11. 22. 11:30

Although the 1.2 million beehives of 20,000 Hungarian beekeepers produce 25,000 tons of honey every year, honey consumption per capita in Hungary is only 1 kg/year. Meanwhile, imported honey-like products are causing a honey market crisis in our country with their low prices. However, you can get excellent Hungarian honey at a very reasonable price, and even one or more hives can be adopted from a producer in Harta, with which the customer can not only ensure his annual supply of honey, but also gain an insight into the entire process of honey production, from pollination to spinning.

Caring for bees and beekeeping is extremely important for preserving the environment and maintaining food safety. The most necessary work of beneficial insects is to pollinate flowers and ensure biodiversity and genetic diversity, and they also produce honey, propolis, beeswax, and royal jelly. Hungary is a major European power in honey production. In addition to rapeseed and sunflower fields, the best bee pastures here are flowering acacia and linden trees. The beneficial health effect of honey from forests is also unquestionable: it strengthens the immune system, is rich in antioxidants (reduces the risk of many diseases) and has an antibacterial effect (can suppress the growth and reproduction of bacteria). The taste of honey can be pleasantly aromatic and sweet, but it can also taste sour and a little scratchy. Its texture and color also vary – it can be thick, runny, thin or crystalline – depending on which plant nectar or other juices containing sugar the bees collected the raw material from. Its color can range from transparent to dark brown.

While the 1.2 million beehives of 20,000 Hungarian beekeepers produce 25,000 tons of honey every year, the per capita honey consumption in Hungary is very low, only 1 kg/year

On the one hand, honey-like imported products, mainly from outside Europe, deceive the customers, who instead of honey only receive a substance containing honey in places, but they also put domestic beekeepers in an impossible situation, since they are forced out of the market. The campaign to popularize Hungarian honey was launched in November by the Ministry of Agriculture, the Agricultural Marketing Center and the National Hungarian Bee Association. Meanwhile, Hungary’s first online community marketplace launched the Real Honey Experience campaign in the middle of the month, in which customers can not only easily order honey from the apiary of Frei István Soma in Harta, which has more than 30 years of experience, but can even adopt several hives, so they can be an active part of the of the entire honey-making process, from pollination to spinning.

The goal of the Soma Apiary, in addition to ensuring that as many Hungarian households as possible consume high-quality domestic honey, is to share with interested parties its decades of experience in caring for 100 bee colonies per year.

In Frei István Soma’s apiary, you can find many types of honey, including acacia honey, rapeseed honey, mixed flower honey, sunflower honey, linden and cream honey. Their honey products include beeswax candles, honey soap and mead wine. The year 2024 holds a very special beekeeping experience for those who not only buy honey from Somáék, but also adopt a beehive. In the “Queen Bee” support package, you will definitely receive at least 20 kg of fresh domestic honey in the hive every year. There will also be a custom bee feed with photos and videos of the hive and bees. And you will also have the opportunity to take the honey out of the hive yourself with the help of Soma. Free beekeeping products – honey soap, beeswax candles, pollen and honey wine, which are also included in the package – are also part of the offer. The campaign started on November 14, but the packages are selling out quickly, in a few days almost a quarter of the goal was reached.