One of my fondest memories of spending the summer in Crete when the children were young is to do with honey. Their Uncle Manolis would be spinning his honey-frames in the centrifuge and they would be sitting around it waiting for a few drops to drip from the tap. When I couldn't find them late in the evening, but could hear the droning of the centrifuge, I knew exactly where they would be!
Unprocessed
The honey would be strained and poured into containers - straight to the market. And this is the kind of family honey that we bring you from Crete (Read more about the families we work with)
Most commercial honey sitting on supermarket shelves is processed. The honey is heat-treated (for increased shelf-life), or diluted with cheaper sugars or corn-syrup to reduce its price. Heat-treatment and filtration removes much of the pollen and nutrients in the honey, along with much of their health-benefits
Health Benefits of Raw Honey
The polyphenols and flavonoids in honey are potent anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatories. Many studies have linked them to lowering the risk of heart disease and certain cancers* This they share with many other foods in the Cretan Diet, along with olive oil and Horta
'Pure' versus 'Raw'
Products labelled 'Pure' doesn't mean that they haven't been heat-treated. It only means that they've not been mixed with other sugary syrups to bring down the price
Crystallisation is good!
Raw honey tends to crystallise quicker than regular honey as it is high in pollen - just warm the jar in a bowl of warm water. Stir and the crystals will melt
Single Source
Yannis and I work with small family businesses, who we know personally. We can totally guarantee the source and quality of our honey. Many people I meet want to talk to me about visiting Crete. They want to tell me about the joys of sampling local honeys - all produced by families such as the ones we work with. Read more about our friends the Papadakis family and the Fylladitakis family by clicking here
Pavlos Fylladitakis
To shop for our honeys click here
