Japón. Mieles de castaño, acacia y manzano

sábado 29 de junio de 2013
http://www.go-nagano.net/blog/?tag=honey-made-in-japan


Japón. Mieles de castaño, acacia y manzano

From the left, honey from horse chestnut, acacia, and apple.  All made in Shinshu, which means Nagano.

Famous “Hachihige Ojisan” or “Bee-Man”. What is his beard made of?

Please have a close look at the right picture above.  What is his full beard made of?  Yes, his beard is made of lots of bees! 

This man is called “Hachihige Ojisan” or “Bee-Man”, a familiar face on TV and other media.  Literally, “hachi” means “bee”, “hige” means “beard”, and “ojisan” means ”man”.  He is the apiculturist (beekeeper) and president of an apiculture company called “Hachihige Ojisan Oigihara Yohoen Inc.” founded in 1936.  I visited its honey factory in a beautiful rural area in Karuizawa where Mt. Asama could be well viewed and was able to talk to him.

Ogihara Yohoen is a true professional of bees and honey in Nagano.  They grow various trees that produce flowers with sweet nectar, keep bees in beehives, gather honey, and sell a variety of honey and honey- and bee-related products.  In their vast apiaries at the foot of mountains in Nagano, there are about 1,300 beehives, each of which has about as many as 45,000 bees.  The annual honey production is approximately 30 tons on average. 

I asked Mr. Ogihara, Bee-Man, why his honey was so popular.  “One reason is that all of our honey is produced in Nagano, which is climatically and geographically ideal to produce honey, and we place great importance on safety,” he said.  “Another is that our honey is pure and natural.  It contains rich nutrition from nature as it is, so it’s good for your health.”

They have various flavors of honey depending the flowers: acacia, horse chestnut, soba (buckwheat), apples, chestnut, blueberry, cherry and many others.  If you go to their shops, you can taste honey of various flavors to decide which is your favorite.  You can get their delicious honey and other products at 8 shops (please refer to “Access” in the table below).  They welcome both individual customers and group tour customers.  It will also be fun to visit their honey farm in Saku city open to the public in limited periods.

If you are a fan of honey, I’m sure you will enjoy visiting Hachihige Ojisan Ogihara Yohoen and their shops.  Have a “sweet” time there!