Pine honeydew honey

Pine honeydew honey (Pinus species)

[caption id=“attachment_5770” align=“alignright” width=“300”][] Pinus Brutia[/caption]

Pine honey is a unique honeydew honey, produced mainly on the Aegean side of Turkey and Greece and introduced to the Italian island of Ischia. The scale insect, Marchalina hellenica, lives on the sap of pine trees and produces prodigious amounts of pine honeydew. Some people question the effect of this insect on the health of the tree, while others encourage “incoulation” of pine trees with this insect to produce pine honey.

There is a debate about whether the Marchalina hellenica is weakening the pine trees and should be controlled with the use of pesticides or to whether to continue “inoculating” trees with it to produce honeydew for honey.

Characteristics:
Features are the reddish brown color, malty, spicy aroma. Woody flavor, slightly caramelized. Rich in minerals and does not crystallize quickly. From Turkey, Black pine honey (Siyah çam balı) is even richer, thicker and darker.

Turkey: Bee colonies foraging on forest plants, especially on Turkish Pine (Pinus brutia) and Stone Pine (Pinus pinea), yield about 50% of the total honey production. In this particular case, honey is being produced from honeydew of the insect Marchalina hellenica. Bee colonies are transported from all parts of the Turkish country to the lavish pine forests. September and October are the most plentiful months.

Greece: It is estimated that 60% of honey produced in Greece is Pine Honey mainly from the pines; P. brutia and P. halepensis. Pine honey is produced by the insect, Marchalina hellenica (known as “the worker” by Greek beekeepers) on the mainland in Southern Greece (Peloponnese) and also on some of the islands. The spring version of the honey is lighter than fall.

Translations: Greece: Πευκόμελο; Turkey: Bal çam; German: Tannenhonig; French: Miel de sapin; Italian: Miele di abete; Slovenian: Smrekov med;

Image credit: Picture of Turkish pine thanks to Leonid Mamchenkov on Flickr and Ookaboo