At times when cruise missiles and artillery shells rain down on civilians in Kiev and Kharkov, it is worth remembering that human civilisation goes beyond war. Most of the time we are actually at peace. It is during these peaceful times when we discover amazing and most beautiful things. We create human culture. Empires come and go. Tomorrow, Russia will be an aberration of history. Its leaders consumed by their own violence. Culture stays. I thus want to devote my blog to culture and talk about a product of culture : honey.
A Turkish Honey Comb - wonder what Type of Honey these Bees produce
Honey does not grow on a tree but is the result of many generations’ ingenuity and efforts. We take for granted that it sits on the shelves of supermarkets or order it with our yoghurts. But who found out that a beehive with 100’000 individual bees can be domesticated? Our main animals were domesticated around 10'000 years ago - the same time as bees. We talk to dogs, cats, cows or horses and get emotionally connected. With bees however, we don’t and it still works. It is amazing. Many people are familiar with Greek honey. Few know about Turkish honey.
Wall Painting of a Beekeeper from Spain - it is about 8'000 Years old
Honey has a long tradition in Anatolia. We know about its use since 10’000 BC. There are wall paintings from 8’000 BC who show beekeepers collecting honey. Homer mentions honey often. It predates the arrival of Turkish people in the 12th century. But Turkish people took beekeeping to new heights. Beekeeping fits perfectly with their nomadic life.
Mobile Beehives in the Turkish Countryside near the Aegean
They bring the beehives to places where flowers and trees blossom and move around following the blossoming season. Cherry trees blossom early in March, some apple trees late in June. There are flowers and trees which blossom all year. Turkish shepherds follow their flock from grazing place to grazing place. Turkish beekeepers follow their hives from blossoming place to blossoming place. They still do it today. Beehives can be found everywhere in Turkey’s countryside.
Beekeeping Potential in Turkey - It is already extensively used in Western Anatolia
The variety in Turkish honey is thus truly amazing. It covers the entire specter of plants, from sea level to the tree line in 2’500 meters altitude. It is also produced in big quantities. Behind China, Turkey is with almost 120’000 metric tons the world’s second largest honey producer. If measured per capita, Turkey is the largest producer. With 1.5 kg per person Turkey beats China’s 0.4 kg hands down. Most of Turkey’s honey is consumed domestically. It never leaves the country.
Traditional Turkish Breakfast with Bread, A Glass of Milk, Clotted Cream and Honey
Honey was so abundant in Turkey that it founds its way into the cuisine of ordinary people. Many deserts like Baklava or Turkish delights are made with honey. In Europe, honey was too rare and expensive. It was only served on the tables of seriously rich people. Bees do not fly when it is rainy or cold. Sweet deserts thus arrived far later in Europe. After the English, French and Dutch planted coffee, cacao and sugar cane in the Caribbean, sweet deserts started to appear in the 17th century. But they were still expensive and for the privileged few. Sweet deserts had to wait for the arrival of sugar beets and industrial sugar mills in the 19thcentury. Thus, Europe lags with respect to desert culture a few centuries behind Turkey.
Baklava is made with Pastry, Pistaccio Nuts and Honey
Given that beekeepers follow a nomadic lifestyle, there are many different flavors of honey. Taste and properties vary significantly by location and plant variety:
Honey Varietis
Flower Honey is made from nectar collected from multiple flowers and thus called “poly-floral”. This is Turkey’s most popular honey. It is used for a variation of deserts and often served for breakfast – with yoghurt of course. There are also “mono-floral” honeys which carry the names of the plants the pollen are from. Good examples are Lavender Honey, Lemon or Orange Honey but also Eucalyptus, Mint and Rosemary Honey. I talk about these further below.
Pine Honey is mostly produced in the Aegean where we sail this summer and the -west of Turkey. Contrary to flower honey, pine honey is made from honey dew, a liquid secreted from an insect living on the pines. Basically, the bees milk these insects and use the sweet product for making their honey. Men may have colonized bees but bees have also colonized insects. Pine honey is darker and sweeter than Flower Honey, has a lower glucose content but is richer in enzymes and amino acids. There is this rumor that you lose weight when dissolving a spoon of pine honey in a glass of warm water. Never tried. Maybe this summer.
A Turkish Street Vendor in Bergama (Pergamon) seling Pine Honey and Pine Nuts .
Citrus Honey is well appreciated for its high aromatic taste and made from pollens from grapefruit, mandarin, orange and lemon trees. With its elevated levers of vitamin C it is probably the healthiest honey. It is more fluid than other honeys and enjoys “luxury” status amongst Turkish consumers
Chestnut honey is something I know from the Ardèche where there are as many chestnut trees as on Turkey's Black Sea shores. I would call it an acquired taste. It has a strong flavor and is kind of bitter. But a lot of people like it and call it an “energy booster”. In the Ardèche it is “the” medicine when you have a cold or a flu. It is dissolved in hot black tea and served with lemon juice and actually works – not sure whether it is the honey, the tea or the lemon juice. Or maybe the placebo effect. Whilst I am not a fan of chestnut honey, I believe in it as a cure.
Lavender Honey is also a honey you find in France. It has a dark amber colour and is made in Anatolia's West. Some Turkish websites praise it for its medical properties as pain reliever and helping with sleeping disorder. But I think its best qualities come out when making deserts. Make figs boiled in lavender honey to find out: blend a pot of lavender honey with the juice of one lemon, heat to boiling point and add fresh figs cut in half for 1 minute. Serve with vanilla ice cream. The lavender cuts the sweetness of the honey and introduces you to flavors you did not expect.
Lavender Honey - the Photo is from France not from Turkey
Acacia Honey is one of the honeys we can buy in our supermarkets thus I won’t comment on it here
"Mad Honey" is a variety I have never heard of. It comes from the mountains that drop into the Black Sea in Turkey’s east and contains some neurotoxins from Rhododendrons. Apparently, you get high when consuming too much. Wonder how the bees make it back to their hives when stoned. Most people lose their sense of direction when on a high. Bees seem to be able to cope though. Otherwise there would not be ’miel fou”.
Aslan at his Honey Lab in Istanbul, a Shop with a wide Variety of Honey
We will have a lot of honey to sample next summer and I guess our breakfasts will be true exploration tour! Love how such culture traditions survive and make people happy. The Russian regime will not share that fate. Culture survives. Empires don’t.