Bee Products Popular in Slovenia

Buzz on Slovenia Honey
By Jennifer Dorroh, The Wall Street Journal, 3/14/2008

In Slovenia, where one in every 250 residents keeps bees, the hills are alive with the buzz of honey making. On a hot summer afternoon at a sidewalk café here, it is often a bee, rather than a fly, that alights on the rim of your coffee cup or beer glass.

The indigenous Carniolan gray bee thrives amid the diverse vegetation, pristine Alpine environment and forests that cover 60% of the country. The result is a mouthwatering variety of artisanal honeys, including fir, spruce, sweet chestnut, lime, maple and wild cherry -- plus honey liqueurs and wines, and even beehive art -- available everywhere from the stalls of Ljubljana's Central Market to typical grocery stores and gift shops, as well as from the beekeepers themselves…