Thyme & Pine Honey

DISTRIBUTION: Mediterranean Basin: Greece (Island of Crete)

SPECIES: Conehead thyme, Persian hyssop – Thymus capitatus / Turkish pine – Pinus brutia

INTENSITY ✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧✧

COLOUR: Red-brown

TEXTURE: Liquid, viscous

SMELL / AROMA: Woody, intense

The Island of Crete has optimal conditions for making a mixed honey (nectar & honeydew), in that it both has extensive pine forests, and many areas naturally covered with conehead thyme.

The thyme & pine honey is one of the few Greek honeys to have been awarded the PDO label of the EU, which recognizes the uniqueness of a product obtained in a well-defined geographical area.

The most widespread species of pine in Crete is the Turkish pine (Pinus brutia); and the most widespread wild thyme species is Thymus capitatus. The nectar and honeydew of these two species produce an intense, dark-brown honey with an aroma, smell and taste that are characteristic of both thyme and honeydew honeys. Because of its honeydew component, it remains liquid for years.