Honey from Valtellina

The Valchiavenna and Valtellina offer many products, but there is one that is little known. Yet in ancient times it was a precious commodity, on a par with liquid gold. Its colour is like that of gold, but it is edible.

This is honey: few people outside the area are aware of it, yet honey production covers the entire province above 1,000 metres: a thousand types of genuine honey with just as many different shades of colour and flavour, as well as different scents and textures known to most consumers. Like livestock breeding and cheese production, beekeeping has ancient, even centuries-old origins.

The secrets of this art have been handed down first from head of the family to head of the family, then preserved in the production companies. The full-bodied honeys in the valley are a perfect match for those from the high mountains.

Production at high altitudes is mainly centred on Millefiori, while monofloral honeys are predominantly Rhododendron. In both, however, the characteristic balsamic vein is noticeable.

Mountain Millefiori honey is produced throughout the province of Sondrio at altitudes below 1000 metres, halfway up the coast. Here, the plants and flowers acquire a particular and full-bodied fragrance: the most frequent blossoms are the apple tree, the vine, the cherry tree and the dandelion. The colour of this honey is similar to that of chestnut, i.e. amber brown, but slightly lighter. It has the characteristic of crystallising slowly and is very fragrant as well as being useful for detoxifying the liver in a natural way.

Millefiori di Alta Montagna (High Mountain Wildflower Honey) is also full of fragrance and is amber in colour. It has a strong, full-bodied flavour and is produced above 1,000 metres above sea level, so that alpine and pre-alpine plant species such as linden, rhododendron, locust, maple, chestnut, wild plum and so on can be found as blooms. It too detoxifies the liver naturally, but unlike the former, it is the most popular variant both in Italy and abroad.

The only monofloral production is Rhododendron honey, a white honey that crystallises quickly and has a very delicate aroma. Used as a calming and restorative, it has been found to have beneficial effects on arthritis sufferers. The taste is sweet and if kept at room temperature, it can also be spread.