Frequently asked questions

Do you have a few questions? We are here to answer them and support you.

Whether it concerns our Cooperative Les Compagnons du Miel, our operations, our values, questions about our honeys, or requests regarding your orders, our FAQ is here to help.

If you cannot find what you are looking for in our help section, contact us directly!

Les Compagnons du Miel represents over 230 beekeepers joined in a Cooperative (231 in France and 2 in Spain) who offer their honeys with guaranteed origin and quality. We encourage meetings between producers and consumers around honey and beekeeping. Present across the region, our beekeepers harvest honeys characteristic of their lands to help consumers discover the diversity of French and Spanish honeys. Thanks to our Honey Expertise Laboratory, we control the quality and precise geographical origin of all honeys harvested by our beekeepers, ensuring total traceability from hive to jar. Our relationship with consumers is built on quality and transparency, promising you the very best from our hives.

Our Cooperative’s primary objective is to provide a commercial outlet for the honeys harvested by our members, ensuring them fair and honest compensation. Its core purpose is human rather than economic. It contributes to sustaining the honey sector by producing over 10% of the honeys harvested across France. It guarantees the presence of over 55,000 bee colonies that contribute to the pollination of thousands of floral species and the preservation of biodiversity. A cooperative has no external investors. Profits are redistributed among the beekeepers or placed into investments and financial reserves to ensure the continuity of our collective project from generation to generation. Our Cooperative is a human and responsible project aimed at respecting beekeepers, bees, and consumers.

Our Cooperative’s primary objective is to provide a commercial outlet for the honeys harvested by our members, ensuring them fair and honest compensation. Its core purpose is human rather than economic. It contributes to sustaining the honey sector by producing over 10% of the honeys harvested across France. It guarantees the presence of over 58,000 bee colonies that contribute to the pollination of thousands of floral species and the preservation of biodiversity. A cooperative has no external investors. Profits are redistributed among the beekeepers or placed into investments and financial reserves to ensure the continuity of our collective project from generation to generation. Our Cooperative is a human and responsible project aimed at respecting beekeepers, bees, and consumers

Yes, the brand Les Compagnons du Miel contains exclusively honeys harvested by our member beekeepers.

It is strictly forbidden to sell a product under the name “honey” if it was not naturally produced by bees from floral or plant nectar (Honey Decree N°2003 587). We are committed to guaranteeing the compliance and excellence of our honeys through strict checks and analysis performed by our Honey Expertise Laboratory and Quality Department (sensory, physicochemical, and documentary controls). We assure consumers that our honeys contain only bee nectar transformed into honey, and nothing else. This is why we place the statement “Ingredient: Honey” on the back of our jars.

Honey prices include:

• Fair compensation for Compagnons du Miel beekeepers
• Our structural costs
• A margin aimed at developing Cooperative projects and its brand (member training, support for new installations)

Our goal is to offer consumers honeys that are accessible to as many people as possible, while respecting producers, bees, and consumers.

All honeys naturally crystallize over time. Flower nectar harvested by bees is naturally composed of glucose and fructose. A honey with a high glucose level will crystallize faster than a honey with a high fructose level. Crystallized liquid honey is always perfectly safe to consume. Depending on your preference, you can liquefy it by placing it near a heat source or in a warm water bath for a few minutes.

When stored in good conditions (+/ 20°C), honey has an almost unlimited shelf life. Honey can be stored for several years without becoming unfit for consumption. Over time, honey may lose some of its flavor and aroma. The date indicated on the jar is a freshness indicator complying with current European regulations.

Honey should be kept in its tightly closed jar at room temperature in a dry place.

Yes, under the effect of light, honey color evolves over time. A very light honey at purchase may become amber colored over time.

The flower visited by the bee determines the final texture and appearance of the honey. Depending on the nectar composition, the natural ratio of fructose and glucose varies. Inside the hive, temperatures remain around 37°C, keeping the honey in a liquid state. After extraction and jarring, each honey will harden or become grainy faster or slower depending on its glucose and fructose ratio. This is the natural phenomenon of honey crystallization. Some honeys crystallize as soon as they leave the hive, while others naturally remain liquid for a long time, such as Acacia or Fir honey.

Yes, there is a risk of infant botulism for infants under 1 year old when ingesting honey. We recommend avoiding giving honey to children under one year of age.

Our Expertise Laboratory controls the floral origin of honeys through several analyses: organoleptic controls, sugar profile analysis, and pollen counting under a microscope form the basic testing to validate botanical origin (e.g. Acacia honey, Linden honey).

Honey origins are verified through a quality process unique to our Cooperative. This process allows us to know the location of every apiary belonging to our Compagnons beekeepers. We can thus trace the geographical origin of all honeys produced by our member beekeepers.

These analyses are currently not mandatory to sell honey. We have chosen to systematically control the botanical and geographical origins of our honeys to provide full transparency from hive to jar.

We accept payments by credit card, Paypal, bank transfer, and check. For payments by bank transfer or check, orders are shipped after payment reception.

Please allow 3 weeks after sending a check, and 4 to 5 days for a bank transfer.

We process orders within 48 hours (once payment is validated). Deliveries are then sent via carrier with a delivery timeframe of 5 business days.

You can find your invoices inside your customer account.

To thank you for your loyalty, we created a point system: for every 10 € spent on our online shop, you earn 1 point. As soon as you reach 10 points, you receive a 1 € discount. You can choose to use your points whenever you like when validating your order, with no minimum purchase required. Your point balance can be checked at any time in your customer account section.

We regularly organize giveaways on our official Facebook and Instagram pages. Detailed rules for each game are available on our dedicated contest page. We ensure fairness and transparency in compliance with current regulations.