The Maltese Honey Bee

His care and affection for what he does is almost infectious. When you taste his product you realise this man knows what hes doing and that his knowledge is second to none, George is one of Malta’s most experienced Beekeepers, he has been practicing his craft now for thirty years and has almost fifty hives at a number of locations around the island.

“George Sammut goes about his work with the meticulous care you would expect from someone who has a herd of almost three million.”

George not only loves his craft but also understands the importance of what he does and why the visible gift of honey is merely a bonus when it comes to the life of the honey bee.

Malta is and quite rightly and should be, proud of the harvest of fruit and vegetables it bares, it is without doubt one of the finest bounties within the Mediterranean, but it isn’t simply the fruit of the toils of the Maltese farmer that produces this bounty, no, without the hard work, diligence and determination of the Honey Bee, a large proportion of this harvest would not be pollinated and in turn would not bear fruit. Official figures available from the USDA and which refer to American Agriculture, state that Bees are responsible for pollinating 80% of the flowering crops and therefore are responsible for almost one third of everything we eat.

One of the hive locations we visited had a natural abundance of indigenous Wild Thyme, a beautiful purple, flowering shrub with an aroma that is simply stunning and you don’t have to be a Honey Bee to become drawn to them. The location was not too far from Mgarr and George proudly confirmed that his bees amongst others, collected pollen from the fields of Mgarr, thereby allowing the crops to become pollinated and bear fruit.

As lovely as honey is, it is much more to us than merely a delicious treat, it has medicinal properties that have been documented since the ancient times, the Mayans noted the antibacterial properties of honey and treated wounds and infections with it. Honey was even part of the recipe used to embalm, by the Ancient Egyptians, Persians and Arabs for centuries. Even today we realise the medicinal and nutritive value of honey with its high concentration of minerals, including calcium, iron, and magnesium as well as vitamins B6, C, E. Bee venom is also used to treat a number of disorders namely, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, and arthritis.

It doesn’t end there, Bees also make Beeswax, an incredibly versatile byproduct of honey production, millions of tons of it is produced globally each year to make things like dental floss, various cosmetic products, shoe, wood and leather polish as well as the wonderfully fragrant beeswax candles we all so love. Bees are tremendously productive creatures working together for the good of their hive.

Honey Bees have a fascinating social structure, each hive has around 100,000 bees and only one queen, each hive is mainly made up of female worker bees with a small majority of male bees whose only role is the fertilisation of the queen, once they succeed unfortunately their services are no longer needed and they die. Honey Bees communicate within the hive by dancing, each individual dance has a meaning and normally refers to the distance and direction a new source of nectar can be found in relation to the hive. A honey bee will visit between 100 – 1000 flowers in one trip with a flying time of between 30 minutes and four hours. If the bees don’t provide pollen or are not able to feed the queen she is no longer able to lay eggs and the colony will grind to a halt.

George and his honey bees have three “honey flows” as he calls them, Spring which comes from new and mixed flora, this produces a lighter honey from the new flowers, Summer when the bees concentrate on the Wild Thyme and the honey produced is a little stronger in flavour and more golden in colour. Then there is the  Autumnal honey which is the darkest of the year when the bees feed on Carob and eucalyptus, each season only lasts three weeks and so for George it’s a careful balance between harvesting his crop and leaving the bees enough honey to feed the colony for what remains of the year.

Once George harvests the honey, the only processing he does is to put it through a very simple filter to remove any debris, thereby ensuring the nutrients and local goodness are kept in the honey and not filtered out. He doesn’t pasteurise the honey either which in itself is a minor miracle in this day and age, as honey is rich in powerful antioxidants and to pasteurise it would remove them.

I’m sure you’re the same, but i’ve heard, many an old wives tale or urban myth that talks about eating local honey and how it can help with the prevention of hayfever and allergies, whilst there is actually very little scientific fact to back these up they do make a lot of sense, If you consider the logic behind these stories; When pollen enters the body, histamines are released which causes tissue inflammation and irritation, this is simply how our body works in order to defend itself. As the bee flies from flower to flower doing its job, pollinating plants one after the other, often the bee still has pollen attached to itself, when its done and it returns to the hive, this then enters the honey production, so when you consume the honey you can be fairly sure that this pollen will be consumed as well and it may well act like a vaccine against the local plant allergies, that’s the theory anyway… and who am i to argue with it.

I took a jar of Georges magical elixir home with me and introduced it to some Quail I recently acquired, I had fresh thyme which was flowering in its pot and some beautifully sweet Maltese Garlic from my friend Giovanni’s farm in Imġarr.

That evening I sat on my balcony with a plate of Honey Roasted Quail, fresh thyme and sweet Maltese garlic, stared into the beautiful hills around Imġarr and raised my glass to Georges herd.