Story of a Passion
In the early 80’s, Antoine Abi Harb, a young wool merchant, chose to develop his passion for apiculture.
He jumped from 5 hives in 1980 to 20 hives in 1984 which he used to move from Hadat (Baabda) during winter to Aramoun (Keserwan) during summer. Back then, he was only producing two types of honey: the eucalyptus honey coming from the tree’s flowers, abundantly present in Beirut’s suburbs; and the oak honey from the heights of Aramoun, a region rich with oak trees.
In the early 90’s, when war was at its end, Antoine Abi Harb decided to enlarge his apicultural project at a larger scale, covering all of the Lebanese territory in order to guarantee a larger diversity and a better honey quality.
This whole ideology led him to own 100 hives, producing 15 kgs of honey each, yearly. On another hand, Beirut city grew in the real estate domain, especially in the South and East suburbs of it which lead Antoine Abi Harb to stop the eucalyptus honey production because of a harmful pollution. A whole new circuit was then born with the 4 times a year displacement of the hives in order to guarantee a natural and flowery environment to the bees, throughout the year.
In 1999, Antoine Abi Harb received the 0% of saccharose certification from the University of Koweit; a first in class result! Since then, regular and continuous laboratory tests are operated on every honey barrel at MIEL DU LEVANT which confirms this unique result.
In October 2011, the family partnership Antoine Abi Harb has been set up under the name of MIEL DU LEVANT. It took us a couple of months only to succeed in commercializing the products on the local market as being the only honey in Lebanon certified at 0% of sucrose. The official launching of MIEL DU LEVANT debuted on August 7, 2012 when the products acquired the first organic certification in Lebanon by LibanCert; renewed later on by IMC, and lately by CCPB.
Since then, MIEL DU LEVANT’s honey is available at organic stores and pharmacies; and is present in major exhibitions such as: Mzaar Festival, The Garden Show, The Cooking Festival, Achrafieh 2020…
How We Harvest
Once the honey maturates inside the hives, the beekeepers take the honey frames out, moving them to the extraction center; uncapping them; and placing them in a spinner.
The extracted honey will then be put in stain steel barrels.
After 10 days of rest, the beekeeper will find his final product: a pure honey ready to be filled in jars.
MIEL DU LEVANT distinguishes itself from the local market since it provides a pure honey certified at 0% of sucrose due to the displacement technique (moving the hives 4 times a year) along with its capacity of staying away from the bees’ natural nutrition.
What Are the Honey Genres
There are two big honey genres:
• The nectar honey such as the orange and thistle honey which are based with flowers’ nectar. It crystallizes 3 to 12 months after its harvest.
• The honeydew honey such as the cedars, oaks, and forest honey. It almost never crystallizes.
The time for crystallization and its texture depends on the honey type itself. It is a pure and natural honey which is better consumed on a toast.
What Makes Honey Organic
• A harvesting zone with a 3 km spoke far from pollution
• Antibiotics free hives used for prevention or cure
• A natural honey; not extracted warmly
The majority of Lebanese consumers think that when honey is raw and crystallized, it’s good for trash. Well, this is completely untrue.