Beekeeping has always been considered a prominent economic activity in the northeastern corner of Portugal, known as the “Trás-os-Montes” region. In November 11th of 1514, the royal charter granted to Bragança by King Manoel, already pointed out some economic privileges of honey bee products "wax, honey (...) above nine coins per batch and for those who buy it for personal use, above one coin, will be tax-free”. At the time, the wax was used mostly for manufacturing candles, which were used in religious ceremonials as a testimony of miracles and graces received. Some dioceses applied a tithe in wax and honey to local beekeepers.

In the early nineteenth century, honey bee products had a considerable commercial value. The wax, for example, was more valued than cereals, while honey was used in direct exchange for olive oil. It is common to find local villages and places that retain ancient names associated with the bees activity, as "Torre da colmeia” (Tower of the hive), “Colmeais” (Apiaries), "Abelheira" (Bee nest), among others.

Currently, beekeeping in Northern Portugal is practiced by 4,854 beekeepers, who own over 142,000 hives, with a honey annual production of 3,000 tons, representing 25% of the national production. Lavandula stoechas, Castanea sativa and Erica sp. pl. honeys are the dominant unifloral honeys in the region of “Trás-os-Montes”. These honeys provide a wide menu able to satisfy any customer desire: from the light amber honey with a mild flavour to the dark mountain honeys with a strong taste. The production of reddish honeydew honeys, with high conductivity and low levels of sugar, is another valuable resource of the “Trás-os-Montes” region, where the dense oak forests of the natural parks provide food to the honey bees when flowers are scarce. Quality label honey from “Trás-os-Montes” is one of the strengths of this economic activity and the ideal tool to compete in the global market with products from other regions of the world. The guarantee of this quality requires deep and continuous research in the characteristics and properties together with the innovation in equipment and methodologies suitable to perform the analytical control. Those are the key challenges of the IHC in the search for new knowledge, new approaches and overleap of old and new challenges in the science of bee products. The symposium will be a great opportunity to bring together bee product researchers and to promote the interchange of information, experience and new ideas.

Algoso Castle, Vimioso, south of Bragança
Photo by Carlos Aguiar