Honey changes depending on where the bees live. It depends on the flowers, the season, the altitude. A chestnut honey and an orange blossom honey have nothing in common — colour, scent, texture, taste. They are two completely different products that come from the same hive.
Calabrian honey has a rare variety. Calabria has orange blossom along the coast, chestnut in the mountains, sulla in the plains, acacia in the valleys. Apicoltura Pacienza moves the hives following the blooms, gathering each variety at just the right moment. For three generations, in the same way.
Honey has no recipe. It has a season. It has a flower. It has an exact place where the bees went that day.
At Braalla you'll find seven varieties of Calabrian honey in 400g jars, 1kg formats for those who use it every day, and a bundle of four jars for those who want to try them all without choosing.
The Pacienza honey varieties
Every flower leaves a different flavour. Every season brings something that never repeats itself quite the same the year after.
How to use honey in cooking
Not just for breakfast. Honey finds its way into many dishes where you wouldn't expect it.
With cheeses
Chestnut honey with aged pecorino is a classic pairing of the South. Wildflower with fresh ricotta. Acacia with blue cheeses. Honey replaces jam on any cheeseboard.
In marinades and glazes
A spoonful of chestnut honey in a meat marinade caramelises during cooking and leaves a deep flavour. On game, on pork, on roast chicken.
In vinaigrettes
Calabrian extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, sulla or acacia honey. A vinaigrette that works on bitter leaves, grilled vegetables, radicchio.
In herbal teas
Golasana dissolves in warm water with lemon. In winter, the oldest way to warm yourself up. Less sugar, more flavour, something that does you good.
On bread
The simplest way. Homemade bread, butter, orange blossom honey. The Calabrian breakfast that needs no explanation.
In desserts
In place of sugar in biscuits, cakes, tarts. Wildflower is the most neutral in cooking. Chestnut gives character to everything it is added to.
Apicoltura Pacienza
Three generations · Calabria
Apicoltura Pacienza has been working across Calabria for three generations. The hives move with the blooms, from the coast up to the mountains, from the plains into the woods, because every variety of honey needs to be gathered in the right place, at the right time.
This isn't industrial production. Each jar corresponds to a precise bloom, a precise place, a precise season. That's why this year's chestnut honey can taste slightly different from last year's, and why it's always worth tasting again. On Braalla you'll find their whole selection. Seven varieties, each with a flavour you won't find in supermarket honey.