The highlands of Ethiopia’s northernmost region of Tigray are the home of Tigray white honey. This honey variety is typically collected between September and December, at the end of the rainy season, but it can also be gathered for a second time from May to June, depending on the amount of annual rainfall.
White, red, and yellow are the three different types of honey produced by the bees in this region, with the white variety accounting for almost 90% of the total yield. Tigray white honey has an uneven, granular texture, good consistency, and a beautiful bright white color.
The aroma is delicate, while the flavor is mildly sweet with an intense, lingering aftertaste. Considered a delicacy, the honey gets its distinctive features from the different blossoms on which the bees feast, primarily plants from the Labiatae family, such as Becium grandiflorum, but also other plants such as prickly pear and euphorbia. Read more
To collect the honey, the beekeepers climb up the steep hills where their modern beehive boxes are being kept in communal apiaries and use smoke to take out the frames from which the honey is then extracted using a specially designed honey extractor.
Once harvested, the honey is consumed by the beekeepers and their families or sold to local companies or people living in nearby villages. Tigray white honey is highly-prized beyond its region of production, and it represents an important food source, a medicine, and a key ingredient in the production of Ethiopia’s national honey wine or mead (tej).
Traditionally, this artisan honey is offered at festivals, accompanied by warm, steam-cooked white bread. Recent white honey shortages have been attributed to a combination of factors, including a decline in the bee population, climate change, deforestation, and periodic droughts.
