On the occasion of World Bee Day, the Ballot-Flurin company opened its doors on their emblematic site in Maubourguet. The opportunity to discover a whole range of products derived from honey, a concentrate of health benefits.
Honey ? It has existed since Antiquity, and its benefits continue to find new applications for our health. but beware, there is honey and honey. “With us, it’s only organic honey”, insists Pascal Flurin, the brother of Catherine Ballot-Flurin, the creator of the company, more than 40 years ago. Four decades, marked by one line of conduct: organic. “Yes, we were a bit of the pioneers. And today, we are going even further, by developing gentle beekeeping, we take care of the “animal well-being” of our bees: we don’t smoke them, we leave them alone. In other words, we are not exploiting them, we are collaborating with them.”
happy bees
To the point of becoming pets, or almost. “We offer acclimatization days, where everyone gets to know the bees, to overcome their fear. At the end, people have bees on their arms… It’s like a communion.” Another “curiosity”, the rooms of the bees. In a wooden cabin, a berth is installed on beehives. Lying down, we relax, listening to the work of the workers, a roar as permanent as it is soothing. “This vibration has relaxing benefits, it is on the same wavelength as the “la” of the tuning fork and evokes the “Om” of meditation. In addition, the bees diffuse pheromones, which also have a calming effect.
This brings us to the virtues of honey. “Since Antiquity, its benefits have been known and recognized, including at the scientific level.” And here, at Ballott-Flurin, we don’t just sell extra-pure honey (without added sugar, never heated), with a very fine taste, propolis or royal jelly, these exceptional materials, we “improve” them still further. “We have developed a whole range of products based on honey, to which we add plants that we produce ourselves. Thus, we manufacture medicines, ointments, toothpastes, soaps, whose virtues are fabulous.” To the point that certain products are used by advanced hospital units to repair burns or promote healing.
health through honey
And that is only possible because the honey from Ballot-Flurin is very pure, and the company, which employs 70 people and has a turnover of €8 million, has developed real scientific expertise , with an ultra-sharp research and development laboratory that creates real medicines. “But all the credit goes to the bees. We have 700 hives, most of them in Lahitte-Toupière, and we also work with 80 producers who have signed up to our gentle beekeeping charter. Honey is gold , and only bees know how to produce it”.