Hédène

HÉDÈNE, FRENCH HONEY'S REFINEMENT AND EXCELLENCE

Hédène, is the willingness to restore French honey’s nobility through a wide range of monofloral regional honeys with uncommon tastes, colors and textures. Noble and natural, Hédène French honeys bring to light the wonderfully rich floral heritage of France through a unique traditional know-how.

Hédène offers exceptional French honeys with an incomparable refinement as apiaries are established in the most beautiful wildflowers parcels of France and honeys are cold extracted. Whether you enjoy them raw with a spoon or in a recipe, Hédène honeys will take your senses to an unforgettable journey. Thanks to its traceability and high quality process, the brand is appreciated by the greatest starred chefs and distributed in the most prestigious gourmet places in France and internationally.

GENESIS

In the beginning, there are two beekeepers in love with French honey: Cyril Marx and Alexis Ratouis. Both born in a family of beekeepers, they connect through a passion for this noble and natural product, with multiple flavors and source of intense pleasure.

Both graduated from “Rucher-École du Jardin du Luxembourg” in Paris, they realized they both wanted to innovate in the honey sector. Hence they decided to create together Hédène, defined by a 100% French luxury positioning and core values such as traceability, refinement and deliciousness.

Today, Hédène is a renowned brand for its know-how, specialized in French honey and appreciated by top starred chefs for its exceptional refinement.

A COMMITMENT TO EXCELLENCE

Thanks to a wide range of 100% French honeys, Hédène highlights the wonderfully rich floral heritage of France and offers a journey through senses and regions. Every Hédène French honey comes from a French soil’s emblematic flower and distinguishes itself with a unique aroma.

The traditional beekeeping know-how specific to Hédène imparts to every honey a higher quality as apiaries are established in the most beautiful wildflowers parcels of France, honeys are cold extracted and every designation is authenticated.

A JOURNEY THROUGH THE SENSES INSIDE FRENCH SOILS

As a pioneer in 100% French gourmet honey, Hédène’s desire is to show the diversity of honey flavors through a wide range of rare honeys. Through their unique flavors, colors and textures, Hédène French honeys provide an extraordinary taste experience. Sweet or intense, crystal-clear or copper-dark, liquid or creamy, these honeys will light up your day at any time:  for breakfast, tea-time, with a yogurt or with cheese, to brighten up a recipe or even raw, eaten with a spoon.

Beyond a journey through the senses, Hédène honeys are also a journey into French regions. From Tarn to Burgundy or Jura, Hédène honeys promote French floral heritage to the delight of epicures… everyone will be pleased!

HÉDÈNE, A MEETING BETWEEN EDEN AND HEDONISM

The name Hédène is a reference to Eden garden in the Genesis and the crucial role of the pollinator bee.

In addition to this, the H, is an allusion to hedonism, hence honey, with its range of flavors, colors and textures, offers various pleasures at any time of the day.

Regarding the E, it refers to the sweetness of honey, a raw and natural product. Finally, the accents illustrate the 100% French origin and French-style refinement. The word Hédène is as unique as the brand’s image and its range of honeys.

A RENOWNED BRAND IN THE WORLD OF GASTRONOMY

With its multiple partnerships in the world of gastronomy, Hédène has an innovative process and shows honey is a proper ingredient. Just like spices or olive oil, it might brighten up your favorite dish. Symbol of French excellence, the aromatic finesse of every Hédène honey is suitable with any recipe.

THE HEAD CHEFS’ HONEY

Serge Vieira, an emblematic figure in the world of gastronomy, 2 Michelin-stars and Bocuse d’Or, is a perfect example as he is Hédène’s godfather. Chef Vieira was appealed to the unique flavors of Hédène honeys and the development of French soils. He cooks with Hédène honeys to brighten up the menu of his gourmet restaurant, located in Chaudes-Aigues in Cantal. Some one-of-a-kind recipes have been created with him, to the delight of finest epicures.

 See the recipes

THE CHEESE SHOPS’ HONEY

Hédène is also distributed by the best master cheese makers, who are all about traceability, soils and flavors. Many Best French Cheese makers, including Michel Fouchereau, Marie Quatrehomme, Pierre Gay or Ludovic Bisot, are part of Hédène’s prestigious ambassadors.

This process with cheese shops, supported by the Federation of French Cheese Makers and French Dairy Interbranch Organization, gave birth to the greatest associations of cheese and Hédène honeys. It renewed the art of tasting those noble products with various commonalities.

See the associations

HÉDÈNE : A UNIQUE KNOW-HOW

Hédène honeys are most of all, a product of traditional French know-how. They express a fascination for this noble ingredient with a unique aromatic fineness. This expertise relies on a selection of the most beautiful wildflowers parcels of France and a sustainable beekeeping, friendly towards pollinator bees.

Every Hédène honey is monofloral and comes from one emblematic flower of a French region.  Cold extraction and certification of designations allow the brand to ensure its honeys’ excellence and refinement.  In this process where traceability is essential, Hédène wants to highlight the wonderfully rich floral heritage of France with exclusively French honey.

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WILDFLOWER
PARCELS OF FRANCE

Hédène picks the most beautiful wildflower parcels of France to produce its honeys. Each honey symbolizes a flower and a region of France. Apiaries are established in wildflower parcels with high floral density in order to guarantee a specific aroma to each honey.

Like wine, the wildflower parcels’ quality is fundamental for nectar flow. This selection guarantees specific aromatic notes to every Hédène French honey. Melliferous density of a single wildflower in a 3km-radius is a key factor as bees forage in colonies.

Once the flower blossoming is over, Hédène selects the best crops for its various monofloral honeys.

A SUSTAINABLE BEEKEEPING

Hédène’s process promotes excellence; quality wins over quantity with a willingness to display exclusively honeys harvested in French regions.

This excellence results in a sustainable beekeeping, friendly towards the worker bee. Hence, Hédène undertakes to select honey frames only from the superhives so that colonies may support their needs during winter.

Furthermore, Hédène fosters sedentary apiary policies to respect the bee’s natural pace in its environment.

EXTRACTED FROM HONEY FRAMES

Hédène’s harvest occurs when the flower blossoming is over. Melliferous plants' flowering periods are unpredictable; they depend on geographical location and weather conditions. They usually start at the beginning of spring with rosemary and acacia and last until autumn with heather and arbutus.

Hédène makes sure only capped frames are extracted from the hives to obtain the highest quality for its honeys.

HONEYCOMB UNCAPPING ACCORDING TO TRADITIONAL BEEKEEPING METHODS

Once frames are harvested and extracted from the hives, the beeswax film, made to protect the honey, is removed, in accordance with traditional beekeeping methods. Then, honey starts flowing softly.

COLD EXTRACTION TO PRESERVE HONEY'S QUALITY

All Hédène honeys are cold extracted and therefore not warmed. This process consists in placing uncapped honey frames in an extractor. Then, they are subjected to cold centrifugal power through fast rotation, to clear cells and extract honey.

BOTTLING

Then, honeys are bottled in glass jars with elegant curves. As fragrance bottles, they highlight the quintessence and the nobility of this raw and natural product. Through those jars, the colors of Hédène’s wide range of honeys are sparkling.

Pasteurizing is not used during bottling to guarantee a unique aroma to each of Hédène French honey.

TRACEABILITY AND DESIGNATIONS' AUTHENTICATION

Whether it is the 100% guaranteed French origin or the monofloral designations, every Hédène honey is authenticated by a testing laboratory on the basis of polyfactorial criterias, such as pollen analysis, for origin and density, or sugars composition. The laboratory analyses guarantee the authenticity of each honey. They show traceability and excellence are core values for Hédène.

CRYSTALLIZATION: THE NATURAL EVOLUTION OF A HIGH-QUALITY HONEY

Hédène gourmet honeys might crystallize over time. This is a natural phenomenon which testifies the honey quality and proves it was not pasteurized. Hédène various honeys may crystallize more or less quickly, depending on the flower’s nectar because it depends on natural sugars' density (fructose, glucose). 

From Hedene.fr
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