Honey production is serious business, Georgian beekeepers say

Wine, salty mineral water and rich food may be readily associated with Georgia, but honey is not.

Nevertheless, some Georgian apiculturists claim they toil as hard as their bees in a joint effort to bring the distinctive taste of Kartuli honey to food tables across the country.

Ushangi Babukhadia, a 68-year-old beekeeper from the village of Ilemi, Imereti province, has been taking care of bees for 30 years. His honey is well known in the village and has even made a foray onto the Turkish market.

“People take and sell it in Turkey. Chestnut honey is most profitably sold there,” he says, adding that a kilo will ordinarily fetch GEL 10, or GEL 7 when sold wholesale.

A favourable climate and rare flowers make western Georgia particularly good for producing honey.

“We have a gorge with plants that grow nowhere else in Georgia. So the honey is the most tasteful here,” Babukhadia said.

Like most trades, good beekeeping takes theoretical knowledge and practical experience.

And like most traditions, knowledge is passed on from one generation to the next.

“My son living in Zestaponi has more bees than I have today because he has learned how to take care of them from me and he has more physical energy than me,” Babukhadia says.

Stings are an occupational hazard and beekeeper Gizo Mestvirishvili says even ten bee stings doesn’t bother him.

“I have already generated immunity and the place being stung simply reddens for a while. That’s all,” Mestvirishvili says.

But careful planning, he continues, helps beekeepers avoid stings. It is best to approach hives in warm weather, above 25 degrees. Bees are especially aggressive in, or just after, rainy weather, he cautions.

Another source of revenue for beekeepers are bees themselves, and the going rate for a whole hive of the buzzing little creatures is GEL 250 to GEL 300.

Babukhadia sells some of his to American clients.

“They know our local bees are different from others across the world. They have a certain kind of proboscis and can reach deep into all kinds of pistil,” Babukhadia explains.

In addition to making a tasty accompaniment to matsoni, some doctors claim it has significant health benefits.

Dr. Sergo Rigvava, a Georgian immunology specialist, says that honey not only improves metabolism but also assists the brain’s learning process.

“Scientists have already proven that honey can avert cancer…it has unique treatment properties,” he says.

According to Georgian Business News, last year Georgia produced 2 300 tons of honey in 2007, nearly half again as much as the year before.