Chasing the Flowers: How Greek Honey Is Produced
A jar of Greek honey tells a story about its landscape. Orange blossom, thyme-covered hillsides and pine forests each offer bees something different to gather, shaping the character of the honey they produce.
But the beekeeper’s work is not simply to put a hive in one place and wait. For thyme and orange blossom honey, portable wooden hives can travel with the seasons. The beekeepers are, quite literally, “chasing the flowers”.
My visit to the hives in Prina, Crete, brought that story to life. The photographs here introduce Stelios and his father, and follow the work from inspecting frames at the hive to extracting the honey.
In the lead photograph: Stavia with Stelios and his father, inspecting honeycomb frames beside the hives in Prina, Crete.
Following the flowering season
Moving colonies to follow flowering plants is known as migratory beekeeping. Rather than relying on whatever happens to bloom around a permanent apiary, beekeepers transport their hives to places where suitable forage is becoming available.
For orange blossom honey, that means bringing the bees within reach of flowering citrus groves. For thyme honey, it means following the flowering of thyme.
The timing matters. Beekeepers must respond to the conditions around them, not simply follow a fixed date in the diary. The journey of the hives helps explain why honey is an agricultural harvest, shaped by place and season, rather than a uniform ingredient produced to an identical specification every year.
From flowers to honey
Thyme and orange blossom are blossom honeys, made predominantly from floral nectar collected by bees.
A variety’s name describes its predominant botanical source. It does not mean that every bee visits only one kind of flower. Bees forage across the surrounding landscape, so the beekeeper’s choice of location and timing helps give a harvest its particular character.
At Liquid Gold, our organic Greek thyme honey offers an intensely aromatic, full-bodied flavour. Our orange blossom honey is more delicately fragrant, with a fresh citrus character. They are different expressions of the landscapes in which the bees have foraged.
Why pine honey is different
Pine honey does not come from pine flowers. It is a honeydew honey.
In Greece, an important part of this process involves a small sap-feeding insect called Marchalina hellenica. It feeds on pine trees and produces honeydew, which honeybees collect and transform into honey.
For pine honey, therefore, the beekeeper is following the availability of honeydew rather than a flowering crop. The timing of this natural cycle also influences when hives are moved.
Our Greek pine honey has a deep, gently sweet character, offering a distinct contrast to the floral qualities of thyme and orange blossom.
From the comb to the jar
The production photographs show the frames being prepared for extraction. First, the wax caps covering the honey-filled cells are removed, opening the comb so that the honey can be released.
The frames are then placed inside a centrifugal extractor. As it spins, the honey is released from the comb and collected in the extractor.
The final photograph shows the amber honey flowing from the extractor’s outlet into a collecting container. It is a lovely connection between the frames at the hive and the honey we recognise in the jar.
Straining can separate pieces of wax and other particles before jarring, but the precise handling of honey varies between producers. Terms such as “raw”, “unheated” and “unfiltered” should describe verified practices, rather than be assumed from the honey’s appearance.
Why does honey crystallise?
Crystallisation is a natural change in honey’s texture. Some of its glucose forms crystals, turning a flowing honey into something thicker or more granular.
Different honeys crystallise at different rates. Their sugar composition and storage conditions influence the process, and pine honey generally has a lower tendency to crystallise.
Crystallisation alone is not evidence that honey has been adulterated. Nor does remaining liquid prove that a honey is better. Crystallised honey can be enjoyed as it is, particularly spread on toast.
Three honeys, three characters
Choosing honey is much like choosing olive oil: flavour matters, and different varieties suit different moments.
Try aromatic thyme honey with Greek yogurt, delicate orange blossom honey on warm toast, or deep pine honey alongside cheese. Comparing them side by side is a lovely way to discover how much character a spoonful of honey can hold.
Explore Liquid Gold’s Greek Mountain Honeys collection to discover our organic thyme, pine and orange blossom honeys, and the landscapes behind their distinctive flavours.
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