Wild about Honey

Most of you know that honey kept properly can last almost indefinitely, but our sunflower honey has come to the end of its official best before date at the end of this year, so we are reducing the price to clear to £6.49 from £9.49. Orders of 24 jars or more will also receive 10% off in addition. No other discounts can be used in conjunction with this offer. WE HAVE JUST MOVED 300 JARS OF THIS SAME BATCH FROM OUR PORTUGAL WAREHOUSE TO THE UK. SO IT IS BACK IN STOCK HOWEVER WITH A DUTCH LABEL.

Raw Sunflower honey locally known as "Girassol" is a lovely pollen rich, taste of pure summer sunshine. Sunflower honey crystallizes very quickly and can only be bottled in the first weeks after harvesting. It sets to a rich creamy, nutty  taste and texture, and has a bright tangy finish. It is like candy in a jar. If you want a naturally set, medium sweet, relatively neutral honey which is perfect to use in hot drinks and teas,  then this is the one.. It comes in early September and is quite limited in quantity.

Sunflower honey is naturally, extremely pure because the long coarse sunflower stem acts like a filter to soil contaminants.

It is known to have many beneficial properties as well as having a reputation in certain parts of the world as being particularly helpful with digestive and heart/lung health and also as a general "tonic" ( in addition to all the other usual antibacterial properties of honey)

This Sunflower honey also comes from the Alentejo region, which is hot dry and arid in the summer months and the least populated part of Europe. 

Our lovely Raw Sunflower honey comes from two master beekeepers, Sr Fernando and Pedro, a young, highly gifted, multi generational beekeeper who has also learned the craft from his uncle.

SEASONAL UPDATE:

This years sunflower is the best we have seen yet, Typically intermittent rains will allow other wildlfower nectars to find their way into sunflower honey, Owing to the southern European drought the Sunflower honey this year is nearly a 100% pure as few other flowers grew during this unusually dry season.

Honey and Crystallization. Crystallization is a completely natural process and occurs with all raw honey. The speed and size of the crystallization depends on variations in the balance of sugars, ambient temperature and to some extent water content  If your honey is set hard, you can loosen it up by placing it in a pan of hand hot water, (and repeat as necessary) using a spoon placed in hot water first and of course storing it in a sunny/warm place in the house. 

BULK DISCOUNTS

This product is already heavily discounted so no bulk discounts will be applicable

You may find cheaper raw honey than ours, but you wont find better...

Another 3 Star Great Taste Award Winning Honey in 2020. Featured in the Times as a special selection of Thomasina Miers and Michel Roux.

This is some of what they had to say about it. 

Raw Portuguese Heather honey,  locally known as "Urze", is a potent, rich, delicious, aromatic honey. Also highly esteemed for its antibacterial and antioxidant properties. Recent Portuguese studies show it to be more potent than Chestnut honey and very high in phenolic compounds

If you've bought our Heather honey in the past you would know that our Portuguese Algarvian heather usually comes from the "Erica" family of heather not the Calluna, or Ling like the Scottish Heather. It is not thixotropic or jelly like in that way, but is a rich dark, viscous honey. This is a truly rare and beautiful honey; smoky, strong aromatic.

The Erica Heather (at least 6 species of white and red) flowers in the winter months in the Algarve, it provides valuable food to the bees and quite often is not taken for this very reason. Should the spring flowers be late or the weather harsh, the bees will eat most or all of it, before it is taken.

This 2019 harvest, has quite simply been one of the very best we have ever seen, the quality is exceptional. It has depth, balance, complexity and a superb complex aromatic finish. Quite simply you will not find a better example of this honey. If you can find one at all... 

Honey and Crystallization. Crystallization is a completely natural process and occurs with all raw honey. The speed and size of the crystallization depends on variations in the balance of sugars, ambient temperature and to some extent water content  If your honey is set hard, you can loosen it up by placing it in a pan of hand hot water, (and repeat as necessary) using a spoon placed in hot water first and of course storing it in a sunny/warm place in the house. Near a radiator or heat source is fine as it needs to go over 42 degrees C for a while to destroy enzymes and for sugars to degrade. 

BULK DISCOUNTS

please call or email us if you require any help making a bulk purchase. Thanks

You may find cheaper raw honey than ours, but you wont find better...

Another award winning ,100% Raw, cold-extracted, unfiltered, Orange Blossom Honey from the Algarve. A luxurious, sweet,  floral, highly scented honey, full of the delicate scent orange flowers.  Golden and runny when warm, sets with an extremely fine, smooth, creamy crystal structure when cold. This years Orange Blossom honey is even lighter, more delicate, floral and piercingly sweet than last years. It is like tasting an orchard of Orange flowers.

If you like your honey light, sweet and floral, this is the one. The Algarve region is famous for its citrus orchards and the orange blossom honey produced from this region has tremendous variety. We have tried to pick an example which is a true classic.

Perfect for use in or on desserts.

This is what the judges at the Great Taste Awards had to say about our Orange Blossom...

"Pale golden honey, fragrant and floral.  Tastes smooth and very moreish.  
Judges loved this and all went back for more!   We particularly like the clarity and viscosity.
 Just the ticket on your breakfast toast or on yogurt."
"Very light on the nose, on the palate there is a vibrancy of fresh petals, sparkly and then quite short - there is a delicate sweetness."

Honey and Crystallization. Crystallization is a completely natural process and occurs with all raw honey. The speed and size of the crystallization depends on variations in the balance of sugars, ambient temperature and to some extent water content  If your honey is set hard, you can loosen it up by placing it in a pan of hand hot water, (and repeat as necessary) using a spoon placed in hot water first and of course storing it in a sunny/warm place in the house. 

BULK DISCOUNTS

please call or email us if you require any help making a bulk purchase. Thanks

You may find cheaper raw honey than ours, but you wont find better...

A 3 Star Great Taste Award in 2020

 This 100% Raw, cold-extracted, unfiltered wildflower honey is one of the few multifloral honeys we currently sell.

Quite simply in our opinion this is one the best honeys we have ever tasted, bar none. From any country, any variety. This is a dark western Algarvian wildflower, made by one of our most experienced beekeepers who takes great trouble to produce this type and there is a very limited amount each year.

Made from bees foraging on the abundant spring wildflowers that carpet the hillsides and meadows of the Western and Central Algarve. This honey is made by the same master beekeeper who produced our other 3 star Great Taste Award Winning Heather honey.  Parabens Pedro..

Wildflower honey can vary tremendously in colour and flavour depending on the location of the hives and the weather.

This wildflower honey is a dark and highly complex honey, made from the diverse wildflowers including Carob, wild Lavender, Borage, Narcissus, Daisies, Buttercups, Vipers Burgloss,, Lupins, and many more. A wonderful tasty complex honey for anyone with a sweet tooth. This honey is a timeless classic.

take a look at this wonderful site which shows the how wildflowers of Portugal.http://www.pbase.com/valterj/wild_flowers_ii&page=all

NEW for this season

Many of you are familiar with our classic Raw Arbutus honey from the Serra da Monchique. with it's unusual and quite strong bitter caramel taste. Well for all of you who love Arbutus and enjoy some of it's remarkable benefits, or for those of you who would like something a little less bitter but still potent and wonderful, we have a VERY LIMITED amount of this exceptional honey which is a southern Alentejana Wildflower honey with just enough Arbutus nectar to deliver a delicate bitter finish. This is a truly a  connoisseurs' honey, and for all of you and anyone who would appreciate something a little different and quite unique, This one is for you.

This honey is unlikely to ever be made again and is one-off vintage. Get it while you can.

Chestnut Raw Honey is a silky, dark amber honey with the distinct floral, nutty taste of chestnut with the fragrance of chestnut flowers. Our Chestnut honey comes from the sweet Chestnut tree or Castanea Sativa. Chestnut honey can range from very dark and bitter to milder and sweeter depending on the proportion of Chestnut honeydew and other flower nectars.

This year, 2017 our Chestnut honey comes from a new producer in the Mirandela area of the far North-East of Portugal, an area famed for its chestnut forests in and around the Montesinho National Park. This is a rich, aromatic, beautifully balanced Chestnut honey, some of the best we've ever tried.

For all of you who use honey to sweeten your drinks, Chestnut honey is perfect in coffee, it complements the taste of coffee with a lovely nutty flavour. Its also adds a wonderful festive touch to Christmas desserts and glazes.

Chestnut honey is a honeydew honey, as well as a nectar honey, known for its antioxidant properties. Honeydew is rich in Oligosaccharides and is made by bees foraging on sweet aphid secretions, where aphids have first fed on the sap of the trees or even fruits. Owing to the composition of its sugars (low in glucose) it tends not to crystallize easily and stays runny longer.

Honey and Crystallization. Crystallization is a completely natural process and occurs with all raw honey. The speed and size of the crystallization depends on variations in the balance of sugars, ambient temperature and to some extent water content  If your honey is set hard, you can loosen it up by placing it in a pan of hand hot water, (and repeat as necessary) using a spoon placed in hot water first and of course storing it in a sunny/warm place in the house. 

BULK DISCOUNTS

please call or email us if you require any help making a bulk purchase. Thanks

Greece is famous for its Thyme honey, and there is a truly amazing diversity of Thyme honey produced. Most of the Thyme honey tends to multifloral, that is to say it is quite obviously Thyme honey but with the presence of enough Wildflowers to change the character of it significantly from place to place. 

Some of the Greek islands can be rugged, rocky and sparsely vegetated, and it is on these islands there may be little else flowering at the same time so the bees forage on the Thyme almost exclusively and produce Thyme honeys which are extremely Thyme rich and highly monofloral. 

Kalymnos is a small island in the eastern Aegean close to Turkey which produces such a Thyme honey, it is rich golden and HIGHLY aromatic and prized for its medicinal qualities. This year a Kalymnos Thyme honey won 3 stars at the Great Taste Awards. It also goes without saying that Thyme honey is traditionally prized for its medicinal qualities especially for lung conditions, colds and respiratory health. 

Our Raw Greek Kalymnos Thyme honey is produced by Isabella who wrote this beautiful letter about her relationship to beekeeping. It is produced in full below.

 The process until the honey is produced in the hive and reaches consumption was more difficult than I initially imagined. It is a job that requires a lot of physical strength and a lot of patience. The hours you have to devote are too many and the fatigue is indescribable. But the result rewards you. As soon as you bond with the bees and this work, you can understand that the way of life of the bee and how a bee works is admirable.

So every year since then, many times with losses and difficulties, I try with love, patience and persistence, to make this precious gift of nature called thyme honey known to the younger generation, because it should be allowed to be enjoyed in every home. It is a wonder of nature. A miracle, which we are all entitled to have."

Raw Vanilla Fir honey is an extraordinary honey and highly prized, both within Greece and internationally both for it's rarity as well as it's luxurious texture and delicious taste. It is the only Greek honey with a DOP, (much like Champagne) it comes from only 4 mountains in the Peloponnese of southern Greece and is uniquely difficult to produce for bee and beekeeper alike. Many years there is none to be had at all.

Its appearance is lush, golden and pearlescent and the taste is just pure luxury, incredibly smooth and thick. It has distinct vanilla notes as well as delicate floral and citrus. Being a honeydew it will not crystallize for a long time and will remain runny. It also has a very low water content which creates its thick unctuous texture. It's perfect with mild cheeses, desserts and cakes or just straight off a spoon.

Our Raw Vanilla Fir honey is produced by Panagiotos and by his permission I have reproduced a letter from him below.

Like all good quality Raw honey, it is received cultural wisdom and increasingly scientifically confirmed that raw honey is an excellent pre-biotic, highly antibacterial and a unusually complex superfood produced by master alchemists ( honeybees) transforming nectars and complex phyto-chemicals into food and medicines which are uniquely beneficial to human beings ( and other animals). It is also quite delicious.

All our honey is 100% Raw, Real and jarred in Greece to keep the honey in the best condition possible and to minimize any time between harvest and jarring. 

"From the proud conditions of the Peloponnese,
Where there alone, nowhere else in Greece and in the whole world, are the immortal fir trees that produce this fine and rare honey...
The rendezvous with history is born on Mount Parnonas, with the blossoming of the fir tree starting somewhere in mid-May and then the fir trees give their unique sap,
Then our indigenous bees, with an abundant appetite, collect this crystallized sap with great difficulty, return it to their hive, where the struggle of processing it for food and storage in their hives begins, a difficult and complex effort for the bee as the nectar is crystallized like candy. . and it takes time and processing to be consumed by the bee and stored for future use...
And that is where the beekeeper steps in with absolute respect and admiration for this blessed insect and brings this treasure into your home.
What makes this honey so special, is not only its valuable properties for the body, not only its fancy appearance, not only its rich taste, but the endeavour required to produce it by bee and beekeeper together."

All this makes the "vanilla" honey to earn this special title of rare and special honey...