Honey is the sweetest substance nature gives us – almost pure sugar containing minerals, enzymes and vitamins, sweeter than dates and figs, produced during our own, sometimes modest, summers. It is, after all, the purest of honeycombs; we speak of it as something pleasant and joyful in life, yet this golden, tangled sweetness is the result of hard work – a complex process of cooperation between bees and plants. To collect just one kilogramme of honey, as many as 100,000–120,000 foraging flights by bees are required.

Wherever the bees fly, that is where the honey comes from. Linden, buckwheat, wildflower and heather honey are the well-known classics found in every honey shop. What makes different types of honey distinct from one another? The flavour and composition of honey vary depending on its place of origin, soil type and harvesting season, but, of course, they are most influenced by the plants on which the bees have foraged; it is from these that honey derives its beneficial effects on health.

That is precisely why honey produced in Latvia’s natural meadows is so special. It can be compared to wine, whose flavour nuances and uniqueness are determined by the soil composition where the grapes are grown, or to mature cheese, whose character is shaped by the microclimate of the cheese cellar. The diversity of natural meadows ensures a diversity of nectar – if a Latvian natural meadow can contain more than 50 species per square metre, just imagine the composition of the honey! Moreover, the plant composition in every natural meadow is unique and unrepeatable, meaning that every meadow honey has its own “fingerprint” that is unlike any other.

The honeybee, having visited field pansy, common yarrow, willowherb, common ragwort, large-flowered rockcress, small pasqueflower and many other flowering plants of the natural meadow, will give the honey a unique aroma and flavour, as well as enriching it with a variety of valuable substances found in the rich array of plants in the natural meadow.