Diversity of honey in Latvia | Medus daudzveidība Latvijā
2016
Lapina, L., Latvijas Biškopības biedrība, Jelgava (Latvia)
Beekeeping in Latvia is a long-standing agricultural industry developing rapidly along with other industries. A very rich composition of plants is found in Latvia, therefore bees have an opportunity to bring very diverse nectar into their hive. Beekeepers do not analyse the content of honey by either laboratorial or sensory methods defining it as honey coming from various flowers. More than 100 plant species producing monofloral honey can be found in Europe. Honey collected in Latvia could be described as monofloral, if it contains at least 45% of pollen coming from one plant, an exception refers to limes – 17% and buckwheat – 25%, respectively. The studies analysing the content of honey pollen have not been performed in Latvia so far, but the information is important for beekeepers and consumers of honey. 840 honey samples gathered in various places of Latvia were analysed in the study. The diversity of honey in the regions of Latvia based on analysis of their pollen was evaluated and descriptions of the types of honey based on botanical content and organoleptic qualities were provided. 72 plant species were identified in the analysed samples during the period between 2008 and 2014. The most common pollen comes from clover, osier family, fruit trees and rapeseed. The evaluation of diversity of the food base of bees in various regions of Latvia allows concluding that it is slightly different, because heather honey is not gathered in Latgale, while it is gathered in other regions of Latvia. Raspberry and phacelia honey has been gathered in Vidzeme for several years in a row. If the yield of facelia honey is the result of purposeful activities of beekeepers (nectariferous plants are being sown), the yield of raspberry honey depends on the natural food supply; the only duty of a beekeeper is to ensure pastures for bees.
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