Manna and goldenrod honey, the guest stars of the Honey Fair in Câmpina

Tens of honey assortments, from the classic acacia, lime or polyfloral one to rare assortments such as manna, goldenrod honey or fruiter honey will race for the visitors’ taste at the Honey Fair in Câmpina due this weekend, February 20-22.

This edition of the fair will rejoin over 130 exhibitors from Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Republic of Moldova, who will also offer not only honey but other beekeeping products as well, such as honeycombs, honey with nuts or cinnamon, with fruits or sea buchthorn, honey syrups, pollen and propolis.

Yet, manna honey is expected to be by far the “ golden girl” of the fair.

“Manna” honey is a honey produced by bees not from the nectar of flowers but out of secretions left on leaves by other insects that have eaten on them. It is darker in color, reaching red-brown, and is famous for its nutritional and health qualities and unique taste. In Bulgaria for example it is produced almost only in the Strandzha Mountains.

“Manna honey has fir, pine, oak and, in my view, it is the cleanest honey of all assortments, as it can be produced only in the mountains, in the area of coniferous forests. This type of honey is the hardest to get. It is a rare honey and its fabrication process involves high costs compared to other assortments,” Florina Apostoiu, honey producer and employee of the Bucharest Beekeeping Institute told Agerpres.

Bees themselves are suffering to extract manna from the conifers, as they are applying serious effort in working with the sticky substance extracting it directly from the trees’ trunk and even die earlier when getting in contact with the manna.

According to the quoted source, manna honey is extremely healthy, is recommended in the cold season for immunity raising, but also for treating anemia, flu, respiratory or stomach affections.

Another rare assortment of honey is the goldenrod one. Honey from goldenrods often is dark and strong due to admixtures of other nectars. However, when honey flow is strong, a light (often water clear), spicy-tasting monofloral honey is produced. While the bees are ripening the honey produced from goldenrods, it has a rank odor and taste, but finished honey is much milder.

“2014 was a difficult year for honey production. A rare honey is the goldenrod one, it was produced three years ago, there still is a small stock of it. But the perspectives for this type of honey are gloomy,” the organizer of the Campina Fair, producer Mihai Apostolescu said.

Goldenrods are mostly native to North America, including Mexico; a few species are native to South America and Eurasia. The plant is used to counter inflammation and irritation caused by bacterial infections or kidney stones. Native Americans chewed the leaves to relieve sore throats and chewed the roots to relieve toothaches.