The 2024 Lozère honey competition has rewarded the cream of the crop, discover all the winners!

Each jury was chaired by a professional beekeeper. – D. B.

This event was organized by the Lozère beekeeping union at the Esat des Ateliers du Prieuré, in Laval-Atger.

The 2024 Lozère honey competition, organized by the beekeeping union, took place on Thursday, November 28, at the Esat des Ateliers du Prieuré, in Laval-Atger. This establishment has specialized for decades in the manufacture of wooden frames and hives. Its know-how is widely recognized nationally.

No fewer than 63 samples of ten different varieties represented the great diversity of Lozère honeys from Margeride, Aubrac, Causses, the Tarn gorges and southern Lozère, and even specific blooms (chestnut, heather, bramble or fine lavender, etc.).

A complicated season

A dozen juries composed of four or five experienced people, chaired by a professional beekeeper, spent over an hour tasting the honeys presented, evaluating them according to very rigorous criteria: visual then olfactory aspect, texture and of course the most important, the taste aspect. A studious and silent moment at the end of which the excellence of Lozère honeys was recognized.

The season was very complicated for Lozère beekeeping, due to the bad weather conditions. There was no harvest in the spring or at the end of the season. Beekeepers had to work hard from March to the end of June to save their bees. So, from the beginning of July, they were gathering nectar. Beautiful honeys were harvested.

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A visit to the workshops where beehives, hives, hornet traps and frames were made closed this day, which was also a special time for exchanges between beekeepers.

The list of winners by category

For the more than fifty beehives

Causses honey, two silver medals, one for Gaec de la Ferme des Fraïsses and one for Philippe Mathieu; chestnut honey, one gold medal, for Philippe Mathieu; two bronze medals, for Philippe Giral and Nathanaël Etienne; bramble honey, one silver medal, for the Clos du Nid association and one bronze, for Isabelle Rousset; Tarn Gorges honey, one gold medal, for David Blanc, and one silver, for Gaec de la Ferme des Fraïsses; heather honey, one gold medal, for Gaec la Miellerie de Vielvic; Margeride Aubrac honey, one gold medal, for Isabelle Rousset and three silver medals, for Christian Allain, the Clod du Nid association and José Mendès; forest honey, one gold medal, for Philippe Mathieu and two silver medals, for Gaec la Miellerie de Vielvic and Sébastien Tichit; honey from the south of Lozère, one gold medal, for Sébastien Tichit; sainfoin honey, one silver medal, for David Blanc; true lavender honey, one gold medal, for Gaec de la Ferme des Fraïsses.

For those with less than fifty hives

Margeride Aubrac honey, first prize, for Frédéric Albepart; honey from the south of Lozère, first prize, for Gil Cellier; chestnut honey, first prize, for David Folcher; Causses honey, first prize for Richard Luc and second prize for Jean-François Coursimault.

Others

Vinegars, mustard, sweets and gingerbread were also presented. A silver medal was awarded to Mickaël Bouquet for his gingerbread.