Past, present and future
Nowadays, most of people know honey as common natural
nourishment accessible in a closest super market. However, in some way, honey
can be compared with a crocodile, a modern well-known descendant of primordial
reptiles which have been occupying our planet hundreds of thousands of years
ago. Honey keeps its ancient and authentic beauty thanks
to long traditions of apiculture that prove its important
place in humans’ history, therefore this “reptile” from food world has a lot of
mysteries and undiscovered secrets around it.
Honey in Greece
In modern Greece
Greek
honey is nowadays a source of income for more than 15,000 beekeepers and a
traditional food for millions of people.
But what
is the difference between the Greek honey
and the honey from other countries, besides its glory and history? The answer
is hidden in the botanic affluence and diversity of
Greek landscape, which allow bees to mix pollen of different plants and create
absolutely unique varieties of honey.
Today it
is possible to outline the 3 most
popular honey types on the market:
- pine tree
honey (60%-65%),
- fir tree
honey (5-10%) and
- thyme
honey (15%).
In fact,
there are many more types, but they can be found
mostly in particular regions.
However, the
advantage of this diversity is not only a huge assortment of honey, but
also in medical features. In addition to recognized medical characteristics of
most of honeys such as wounds, burns and cough healing, gastrointestinal
tract protection and sugar substitution,
Greek honey has high volume of phenolic compounds
and protocatechuic acid which have significant biological effects in human cancer cells.
Honey of
Ancient Olympia
The area
of Ancient Olympia is one of the most famous places in Greece
This type
of oak tree honey comes from the mysterious
Foloi forest, the biggest Balkan oak ecosystem which was occupied by
mythological centaurs and dryads. Today it is hard to find those creatures,
nevertheless the forest is full of wild bees, which in cooperation with
talented dedicated beekeepers produce oak tree honey.
According to the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the
strongest honey in terms of antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory
activities, is oak tree honey that helps us with preventing and healing tumors, stomach ulcers and cell
degeneration.
Giorgos
Gardikis, a young beekeeper of mountainous Ancient Olympia
“For me, beekeeping
is more than a hobby; it is my permanent job. It means to me lifestyle, passion
and long family tradition.
I have to
travel long distances from apiary to apiary to check all conditions in hundreds
of hives, and sometimes I must work without any weekends more than 8 hours per
day, but efforts lead to results that make me proud.
I have been
trained in beekeeping from my father, who has an experience of 30 years in this
field. All my efforts are focused on following the
traditional way of production, in order to get absolutely pure honey that can
be called truly Greek authentic honey with no doubt.
Traditional
producing is not only what I believe in, but also my main competitive advantage
which allows me to differentiate from thousands of producers and companies. My
customers are mainly my local neighbours who have
been loyally buying honey from my family for decades, because they have
witnessed how honey is produced by us. Therefore, quality in honey
producing is always for me a
cornerstone for beekeeping.”
The future
of the Greek
honey
Taking
into account its medicinal superiority and high
quality, the question why the Greek (Olympian) honey is still not opened to
mass consumer is raised.
It is
clear that beekeepers need us to survive and preserve traditions, and we need
them to receive the best quality of honey for medical use and gastronomic
pleasure!
Rostislav Nikulin
Erasmus
Intern from Russia , Karelia University
of Applied Sciences, Finland
in
collaboration with “Dione” Local Development Centre in Ancient Olympia
email:
nikulin95@yandex.ru
