Which honey is the best
Honey is the natural sweet substance produced by bees from the nectar of plants, or from the secretions of insects that suck on plants (creating honeydew). Bees collect these, transform them by mixing them with special substances from their bodies, dehydrate them, and store them in the honeycombs of the hive in order to ripen them.
In other words, bees use as raw material for making honey the nectar they collect from flowers, and/or the natural juices secreted by certain plants, or by certain insects that feed on these plants. They then produce the honey, which they store in the honeycombs.
The ancient Greeks considered it a gift of the gods. The bee and honey play a leading role in Greek mythology, customs and traditions. Its symbolic significance “slipped” sweetly into Greek traditions too, with the latter symbolising fertility, happiness and well-being.
Bees, after collecting the nectar or the secretions we mentioned through a special process that takes place inside their bodies, specifically in the crop, transform them into honey which they deposit in the cells of the honeycomb within their hive. There they dehydrate it, reducing its moisture from 14% to 18% and, once it has ripened, they seal it with a film of wax so that it can be preserved.
The types of honey in Cyprus
We distinguish honey into two categories. Blossom honeys that come from the nectar of plants (orange, thyme, eucalyptus, lavender, etc.) and honeydew honeys that come from certain insects – our well-known workers – that parasitise on plants and from which they suck their juices and then excrete them as sugary juices, in the form of small droplets. (pine, fir, etc.).
Cypriot honey
Cypriot honeys are made exclusively from flower nectar and there are NO Cypriot honeys from honeydew. In Cyprus, due to the hot and dry climate, the honeys have a very low water content, which is why they are thick. Honey is an excellent natural sweetening substance, with a taste and aroma that vary with the blossoms it comes from. Enzymes are the microorganisms found in honey; they are produced almost entirely by the glands of the bees’ stomachs, and they are what transform the nectar and the insects’ honeydew into honey. It is used equally in cooking, in baking and in drinks.
The quality of honey depends on the beekeeper and the bottler. When correct practices are applied both in beekeeping and in bottling, the quality of the honey remains high, as its taste, aroma and colour are preserved unaltered, just as nature offered them to us.
Cypriot beekeepers strictly apply all beekeeping practices, as they are subject to strict controls by the State Chemical Laboratory, and this is proven by the fact that Cypriot honeys have been and are distinguished internationally with awards for excellent quality. In addition, they are produced exclusively from blossom honeys (nectar). The best honey in terms of taste (thyme, blossom) is the one we like. Its quality as well as its nutritional value remain the same. The basic prerequisite, however, is that it has been produced with correct beekeeping practices. By this term we mean that the beekeeper, through their work, has not caused any alteration to the natural characteristics of the honey. Crystallisation, or otherwise “sugaring”, is a natural property of honey and does not change its nutritional value at all.
Honeys from different regions differ significantly from one another in taste, aroma and colour, because they come from different plants, and are produced in regions with different climatic conditions. The differences in their nutritional value, however, are not great. Its chemical composition is almost the same in all honeys.
The best time to buy honey is always when the honey is fresh, that is, when it has just come out of the hive. This always depends on the type of honey and the region where it was collected.
This choice is one of the most important that one has to make when seeking good honey. Standardised honey states its origin and its characteristics and gives us a minimal quality guarantee, but it does not cover everything. As the number of producers is large and their production small, we will not always find standardised honey, but this does not mean that the absence of a well-known label indicates problems. Among small producers we often come across diamonds. Nevertheless, we must be careful about whom we buy from and try to verify their reliability, by, among other things, doing a taste test before buying.
So which is the best honey?
The best honey in Cyprus is the one we like. The basic prerequisite, however, is that it has been produced with correct beekeeping practices, that it has been tested by the State General Chemical Laboratory and that it is provided on the market with the necessary labelling.