Halkidiki has got 30% of the total number of bee swarms in Greece (400,000 from a total 1,200,000), with 50% of the professional Greek bee-keepers (2,500 from 5,000). The bee-hive density is 84/km2, while the average in Greece is 10/km2.

 

Halkidiki alone has twice as many bee-hives as Britain, four times more than Belgium and Denmark and more than Portugal (210,000), Holland (85,000), Luxembourg (10,400) and Ireland (16,000) combined.

 

What is special about the honey of Halkidiki?

 

Bee-keeping is one of the major branches of the local economy and this is due to the rich apiarian flora (pine-tree, heath, arbutus, almond-tree, chestnut, linden), the ideal climate (warm summers, mild winters), the excellent quality of the honey of Halkidiki, the tradition and transfer of the mastery of bee-swarms handling from one generation to the next and the appropriate co-operative organization of the apiarists in the area.

 

The development of tourism in southern Halkidiki and the vicinity of Thessaloniki have also contributed to the development of apiculture in Halkidiki, which induced the apiarists to modernise their units in order to satisfy the increased demand.

 

Halkidiki is of great apicultural interest because of the advantages it has over other regions of the country. All the pine forests of Halkidiki have the honey-producing insect Marchalira Hellenica L. and they offer a stable annual production of honey. In Halkidiki there is a special breed of bees called Apis Mellifera Macedonica, which is one of the calmest breeds. It is sufficiently productive, it has got little tendency to form swarms and it is tolerant to diseases.

 

Why should someone prefer the honey of Halkidiki?

 

Thus, following the tradition, but also being lucky enough to live in an environment suitable for apiculture, the people of Halkidiki produce one of the finest honeys in the world which contains an abundance of those qualities which make honey one of the most valuable foodstuffs. Pine-tree honey is the most commonly produced honey in Halkidiki, but there is also heath and chestnut honey production in smaller quantities.

 

So the choice is honey from Halkidiki if you require inexhaustible energy, muscular strength, stamina in fatigue and diseases and mental abilities augmentation.