Summer’s end is a time when bee-keepers leaf through the last pages of their calendar. It is a time when they look back at the outgoing season but also showcase their achievements. To popularize their new honey and its derivatives, around 30 honey producers came to Sofia from all parts of the country.

One of the first pavilions put up in front of the Roman baths in the city centre is that of Mihail Arnaudov, a bee-keeper from Yambol. Acacia, coriander, lavender, sunflower, thistle – the labels on the honey jars are arranged in strict order, depending on the time the pollen was collected, the bee-keeper says.

“Bulgarian honey has a powerful medicinal effect because it is so diverse,” says Mihail Arnaudov. “There is all kind of vegetation here. Bees collect the nectar of all of these herbs and that makes for the purest, top-notch product. Every kind of honey is healthy because it is an antioxidant. We have clients who are now over 90. They say they eat a lot of honey and are as healthy as a horse. This goes to show that honey is as much food as it is medicine.”

The bee-keeper highly recommends propolis tincture – “a natural antibiotic which does no harm to any organ and can only do good”, as well as propolis sticks, indispensable for mouth problems.

So, honey can make us healthier, but can it help make us more beautiful? We should trust to its restorative, moisturizing and nourishing effect, says Sashka Vatrachka from Radomir, who is selling her own cosmetic line of products, based on a secret handed down in her family from generation to generation.

“It is an old family formula, a liquid burn preparation. When we had tested its effect and saw that no scar remained if it is applied on the 4^th-5^th day after the burn, we decided we wanted it to be readily available – at pharmacies, hospitals. So, we took out a patent and then started making face cream. Beeswax is another one of the components that has a very beneficial effect on the skin.”

The products are clinically tested and have community certification. And soon, interest was displayed in these products from Germany. But if you think honey is all about health, you are wrong – there is much more to honey than meets the eye, it can also be a form of art. Petya Ivanova from Ostrov village near Vratsa makes figures out of beeswax – animals, plants, the Mother of God and infant Christ, angels. They are all candles shaped into different figures, in warm colours and with an exquisite fragrance.

“People have been showing an interest in the candles because inhaling the fumes of beeswax candles is good for one’s health. And the fragrance is lovely – it is what the beehive smells of inside. And everything that is good for the bees is good for humans as well. The candles burn slowly, they do not drip or smoke and are 100 percent natural.”

And as Petya Ivanova has herself been a bee-keeper since 2010 and chairs the women’s section of the bee-keeping association, we broach serious subjects such as, for example how Bulgarian honey can be presented globally or the colony collapse disorder – the dying out of bees. As it turns out Bulgarian honey is exported to Europe only as an improver for Chinese and Argentinian honey – i.e. it is not regarded as a product in itself, only as a raw material. As to the colony collapse disorder, Petya says this is a world tendency and there are many different reasons. Bees’ immune system is failing because of climate change whereas humans do additional harm when they interfere with the strict routine of the beehive. But to end on a lighter note, here is a honey recipe from Metody Mihailov from Gorni Vadin village near Vratsa.

“Squeeze the juice of one kilogram of lemons, add 50 grams of bee pollen and one kilogram of honey to obtain a syrupy liquid. Pour into glasses and dilute with water and you get a wonderful honey drink – a vitamin, mineral and enzyme-packed elixir.”

English version: Milena Daynova