Honey
:
Miraculous Taste of Nature
Miraculous Taste of Nature
What is Honey
The bees take nectar from flowers and fruit buds. And this nectar is formed by a chemical change using an invertase enzyme in the bodies of honeybees and is then placed in honeycomb cells in the hive. While turning the nectar into honey, the bees mix saccharose in the nectar with their invertase enzyme, which converts it into simple sugars in the form of fructose and glucose.
They also get rid of some of the water to prevent fermentation. The bees provide the hive with a special ventilation system to maintain the temperature, and the honey is placed on the cells of the hive and then covered with wax. This process allows it to gain the taste and consistency we know.
The color, sugar balance, and taste of honey differ depending on the nectar. Nectar gives the fragrance of honey the flavored essential oils from the flowers, which is also the oil that gives the flower their unique fragrance.
To collect ½kg of crude nectar for the production of honey, 900.000 bees need to work for a day. Only a portion of this collected nectar can be converted into honey. The amount of honey obtained depends on the sugar concentration of the nectar.
What is Pine Honey
PPine Honey is a sweet and spicy honey with some woody notes, a resinous fragrance, and dark amber color.
Pine honey is an unusual honey. Because it is not produced entirely by honey bees
Pine honey is an excreted honey produced by Marchalina Hellenica (the Basra beetle), which lives on different species of pine trees. It takes the sap of the tree and changes it within its own body. Pine honey is the honey of our unspoiled pine forests in the Aegean and Mediterranean regions
It is very natural and is produced in entirely natural conditions. Marchalina Hellenica (the Basra beetle) spends its whole life in the pine tree and lives on the sap it sucks from the tree. The Basra beetle begins to feed on the sap of the pine tree after the nymphal phase of life. Approximately 80% of the pine tree’s sap is a carbohydrate, and 20% is protein.
The Basra beetle uses the protein portion for its nutrition and secretes the increased carbohydrate compound. This is known as honey chew and is taken by honeybees. Honeybees change the enzymes in the structure of the honey and store them in the honeycomb eyes, where the honey is ripened by the honeybees. Then, three-quarters of the honeycomb is harvested, and filtered pine honey is obtained.
A Honeydew
Honey
Pine Honey production starts in the first days of August and lasts until the end of April. In high-altitude areas until mid-May. Between August and November, there is intensive pine honey production. Therefore, even in winter, the flow of pine honey continues.
Pine Honey does differ from other type of honeys in terms of chemical content, physical feature and health benefits.
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Pine honey has high PH level, prevents the bacteria growth that causes infections.
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In addition to being rich in vitamin A, honey is a valuable source of iron and calcium.
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Pine honey has high antioxidant level.
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It is also rich in terms of proteins and amino acids.
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Due to those features it is preferable for apitherapy (treatment with bee products). Pine Honey has a darker color and hardly crystallises.
Pine Honey differs from other types of honeys in that it contains more natural enzymes, amino acids and minerals. For this reason, it is also preferred in child nutrition.
Comparison
Pine honey has better average values than blossom honey and acacia honey types in terms of minerals and antioxidant capacity.
POTASSIUM
More than
12 times of Acacia Honey
6 times of Blossom Honey
COPPER
Nearly
7 times of Acacia Honey
5 times of Blossom Honey
MAGNESIUM
Nearly
5 times of Acacia Honey
3 times of Blossom Honey
IRON
Nearly
2.5 times of Acacia Honey
61% more than Blossom Honey
PHENOLIC CONTENT&TOTAL ANTIOXIDANT CAPACITY
Nearly
2 times of Acacia Honey
3 times of Blossom Honey
ZINC
More than
64% Blossom Honey
Higher Enzyme Activity
GREECE IN WORLD
PINE HONEY
PRODUCTION
Greece has a long history of beekeeping, and there are more beehives per acre in Greece than in any other country in Europe. So it is no surprise that Greek honey is considered the best in the world. A wide biodiversity of flora combined with the Aegean summer sun is what helps produce this unique golden nectar. Honey is the first traditional sweetener used by Greeks since antiquity. Along with olives and grapes, honey formed the beginnings of Greek gastronomy.
Greek Pine Honey is one of the most nutritional, natural foods, filled with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Greek Pine Honey contains anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-fungal substances and has also been used for centuries as a treatment for sore throats and coughs, minor burns, cuts, and other bacterial infections.
Due to the unlimited summer sun, the biodiversity of the Greek countryside, and the rich variety of Greek flora, which includes over 850 species found nowhere else in the world, Greek honey is considered some of the finest on a global scale.
Scientists and botanists consider Greece a country with the richest flora in the Mediterranean basin. (more than 7,500 different species of herbs, plants, wildflowers, and trees).
Greek honey is rich in aromatic substances, compared to other honey produced in other countries; they have less humidity. Which means they are denser and richer. Combine all these facts, and you can understand why Greek honey has a top position in the world market.
About 65% of all Greek honey is pine honey. Its mahogany colour highlights its rich mineral content, which includes potassium, magnesium, phosphorous, iron, and sodium.
It does not crystallise easily. Pine honey has the highest percentage of antioxidants of all Greek honey.
