The basic honey process starts with bees collecting nectar from flowers and ends with honeycombs. In more detail, it involves adding enzymes, chewing, regurgitating and leaving the liquid to evaporate, until the bees are left with a dense, gooey, sweet substance: honey.
Honey is actually food for bees, but somewhere along the way, humans worked out that it was pretty tasty for us, too. Humans also worked out that a bee only flies within a two-kilometer radius of its hive, so if you control the flowers and plants in that area, you can control the flavour of the honey. This makes for infinite varieties and infinite sampling fun.
In Flanders, you can take your pick from more than 30 options at Weyn’s Honey – and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The company was established in 1968; Edmond Weyn first set up shop in Beveren, and you can now find shops in Antwerp, Brussels, Hasselt, Gent and their newest branch in the Kortrijk shopping center.
While they work with one Belgian beekeeper, Belgium is not generally bee country. Weyn’s honeys come from places as diverse as Turkey, China, Mexico, Tasmania, Chili and Hungary.
With so many to choose from, here is a bit of background to help inform your honey selection:
Some honeys are “monofloral”, meaning the bees fed more or less on one flower. No honey is purely monofloral, as it’s impossible to control the whereabouts of tens of thousands of bees – for one hive alone – at all times. A honey with a flower’s name, such as orange blossom, clover, linden or thyme, is monofloral.
Others honeys are regional, including a variety of flowers, and are known as “polyfloral.” Weyn’s polyflorals include Yucatan, Summer honey or Spring honey – and are as delicious as their monofloral cousins.
There is one other honey source: in certain areas, bees will feed on nectar secreted by aphids or other insects. This “honeydew” or “forest” honey is darker, with strong flavours; pine honey is one of the most common examples.
In addition to origins, you can also consider the colour and consistency. Honeys can be clear and liquid, or thick and creamy. All honey will eventually reach the opaque stage as the sugars crystallise, but some achieve this state almost immediately, while others will take years. Colours range from from nearly clear to dark brown.
But most important is the taste, of course, and that is a very personal matter. A Weyn’s shop will be happy to let you sample a honey before you buy it, so you’re sure that the pot of Eucalyptus or Chestnut you bring home is actually a pot you are going to finish.
Weyn’s sells a lot more than pure honey: From beer and wine to cakes, chocolate spreads and beauty products, you can find dozens of products with a honey base.
A number of health products are also on sale, as honey and its derivatives have long been heralded for their medicinal qualities. Some studies have concluded that honey’s natural antibacterial properties help heal wounds, and that it can be as effective as medicinal syrups on a sore throat. Many people swear by honey for these and other health uses.
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