The Latvian Honey

“Will you take a jar of honey?” is a phrase you’ll often hear when visiting friends or family in the Latvian countryside. A jar might appear in a care package, sit in a kitchen cupboard “just in case,” or show up at your workplace in summer – fresh, comb and all. With over 1.1 kg of honey consumed per person annually, Latvians are among the world’s top honey lovers. So, let’s take a closer look at this sweet, buzzing universe.

The Latvian Honey Landscape

Beekeeping and honey gathering in Latvia have deep and enduring roots. “In the early years of independent Latvia, nearly every rural household kept bees,” says Jānis Kronbergs, project manager of the Latvian Beekeeping Association. “Today, Latvia has over 4 000 active beekeepers – roughly one for every 200 households. That’s still one of the highest ratios in Europe.”

Latvia’s diverse landscape creates the perfect conditions for exceptional honey. With about half the country covered by forests that interchange with natural meadows, wetlands and farmlands, the varied terrain offers bees an abundance of nectar sources throughout the seasons. “This gives us a wide variety of flavours with especially pronounced aromas,” Kronbergs explains.

The flavors range from sweet, floral spring honey to bright yellow dandelion, delicately sweet linden, and deep buckwheat honey with bold molasses notes. Most Latvians get their honey directly from local beekeepers, creating a personal connection to the unique seasonal blends that reflect the specific flowers and forests of each harvest.

Beyond Honey: Latvia’s Bee Products

Honey isn’t the only product that comes from our productive relationship with bees. A teaspoon of pollen grains is believed to help strengthen immunity and provide energy. When bees preserve and coat pollen grains with honey, fermented bee bread is created. It tastes a bit like Latvian rye bread and is even more biologically active and valuable.

In fact, Kronbergs points out that Latvia has over 50 years of experience in harvesting pollen and bee bread, making it the regional leader in both expertise and tradition. Medalus or mead is believed to have roots stretching back to medieval times and is a drink similar to beer that’s made from water, honey and plant additives. Interestingly, medalus true to its origins should not be sweet unless it’s stronger than 13%.

For those wanting to go zero-waste with your food packaging, Latvian-made beeswax wraps created from cotton and beeswax come to rescue. Beeswax is also used for creating candles and balms, and added as ointment bases for skincare products.

Even Closer to Bees

For those who really want to get as close to bees as possible, visit the “Bee Hut” at the Kalniņi apiary in Latgale. Seven hives are built into the walls, and visitors can actually sit or nap surrounded by softly humming bees! This is said to improve mood and well-being.

Although beekeeping used to be primarily a rural occupation, city dwellers are becoming increasingly active too. Hotel Janne has hosted beehives on its roof since 2017 and offers Riga Rooftop Honey, earning the title of “Latvia’s Most Delicious Honey” back in 2018 and 2023.

Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) keeps 16 hives on the roof of its Pharmaceutical Education and Research Centre, producing honey on-site. RSU researchers have also found that some Latvian monofloral honeys can rival manuka honey in antimicrobial and antibiofilm tests against wound pathogens.

Latvia’s extensive knowledge in beekeeping has also resulted in valuable bee-tech applications, like BeeKing – an app for monitoring beekeeping digitally. Beekeeping in Latvia is evolving, but the buzz remains.

If you’ve worked up a taste for some sweet, flavorful honey, make sure to check if it’s gathered specifically in Latvia – look for “Ievākts Latvijā” (the official trademark) on the label, or visit one of the beekeepers featured on Latvia’s honey map. Of course, the sweetest jars are those gifted by a caring friend or relative.