Local man bags historic international honey award

CASTLEBAR farmer and beekeeper, Jude Walsh, made Mayo and the country at large proud when he won third prize for his Nephin Beg labelled, ling heather cut comb honey at the London Honey Show last month.

This is the first time honey from Co. Mayo has won an award at this prestigious international event.

London Honey Show is considered the highest ranking and most competitive show on the world's beekeeping calendar. The globe's best beekeepers converge here each year and silently battle it out for position of top merit and the bragging rights in its wake.

While the decorum in the air seems as sweet as the bounty on display, just below the skin the contestants anticipate how months of determined effort will fair when pitted against their peers, friends and sometimes family members.

Over 2,000 entries were submitted this year, ranging from every conceivable honey bouquet imaginable - from preparation to presentation, to competitive mead production, all the way to the champions of the chandelier arts (or candle making to most of us).

With an extremely high calibre of quality required, most entries found themselves relegated quite quickly, but this was not the case for our man Jude.

Jude's ling heather honey captures the essence of the land that inhabits the area around the Nephin Beg national park.

His bees are blessed with an unspoiled landscape in which to extract an extreme purity, which is a litmus test for the quality of our home place here in Mayo, so it's no wonder he took home one of the highest awards achievable in the world.

Irish heather honey has become a hot topic in Irish honey as of late. Just last year a study was conducted in Dublin City University that showed our native bog heather honey to be comparable to, and in some cases, better than the world famous Manuka honey from New Zealand, which is prized for its health benefits. In the case of our native heather, it may be comparable to Manuka honey, but it comes without its extreme price tag.

Of the heather honey that is now seen as internationally excellent, Jude has produced the third best in the world this year.

Jude's honey is available for order at his online store: https://keepers.findyourkeeper.ie/shop/mayo/.