The secrets of European honey
Honey is a product that human has used for decades in his diet, along with olive oil, and is an integral part of today's gastronomy.
It is no coincidence that honey is widely used to make a big variety of sweets and delicacies by millions of consumers around the world.
Especially the EU honey is used in many different ways thanks to the highest quality and food safety standards European beekeepers apply to their production.
Want to know more about European honey production? Want to know where and how this sweet golden nutritional treasure comes from?
Come to learn more about honey together and learn all its secrets !!
First of all, what is honey?
Honey is a natural product produced by bees, collecting nectar from plants.
Which is honey production?
The bees collect the nectar from the plants, which after a special process they follow turns it into honey.
Then this honey is deposited in the cells inside the honeycomb.
There the honey is dehydrated and covered with a film so that it can be stored for a long time.
Fantastic right?
When is the honey harvested?
Depending on the area, the climatic conditions, the production of the bee, the producer can harvest the honey once a year or more.
Basically, a very important feature that determines when the honey will be harvested is the moisture that the honey has.
To be high quality and safe, its moisture must be 14% -18% during its collection.
If the honey moisture is above 18% then the risk of spoiling our honey is extremely high.
How do we distinguish the quality of honey?
Mainly, from criteria that have to do mostly with our personal preferences on taste, aroma, color, and texture of honey.
Now that we have seen how honey is produced, let's go and see what kinds of honey do we have and theirs quality characteristics.
Flower honey:
A honey rich in aromas and with a fresh taste. We produce it with nectar collected from flowers.
Ereiki honey:
Produced from the ereiki plant which is considered as a pure beekeeping plant and is characterized by a dark color and high content of nutrients.
Thyme honey (summer): A very popular variety with highly aromatic honey, with rich taste and very beautiful color. Especially rich in nutrients.
Orange (spring) honey:
Highly aromatic honey with a characteristic citrus flavor, honey full of freshness, and rich in nutrients.
But we don’t have only these kinds of honey, we also have:
Propole:
It is a soft, flexible, sticky material containing basic resins and various juices, wax, essential oils, and pollen. Bees use propolis to spread the content of the hive, disinfect it, and close slits, and so on.
Honeycomb honey:
It is the honey that is offered to the consumer through the natural '' warehouse '' of the honeycomb, without being processed.
The honeycomb is removed from the beehive, cut into pieces, placed in transparent packaging, and consumed as it is. Chewing it, the honey comes out and in this way, we enjoy the wax and honey at the same time.
Beeswax:
It is produced by the waxed glands of the bees which are located in their belly; this is the basic material to build the honeycomb. It is widely used in the manufacture of cosmetics, lamps, and candles, for ointments and patches, and to make varnishes and dyes.
As we see honey is not just another product, is a real food treasure. And especially European honey is made of the highest food quality and safety standards that ensure that all consumers will taste the best product on their table.
