Raw Organic Greek Chestnut Honey from Mount Athos

This Raw Organic Greek Chestnut Honey from Mount Athos is not for the faint-hearted! It boasts a rich, deep molasses flavour with bitter notes reminiscent of freshly brewed coffee. You’ll still taste this honey in your throat 10 minutes after eating it. If you enjoy strong, bold honey, this is the one for you. Harvested with permission from the monks of Mount Athos, this extremely dark honey is 100% raw, unpasteurised, and certified organic. The chestnut trees on Mount Athos produce a unique honey, darker and more robust than other varieties, with a strong mineral and polyphenol content. Winner of the 2021 Gold Award at the London Honey Awards, this honey is sure to leave a lasting impression.

Product Highlights

  • Extremely Dark & Almost Black Honey: The honey from Mount Athos has a visually striking dark hue, much darker than most other chestnut honeys.
  • Strong & Robust Flavour: This honey has the strongest chestnut flavour you will find. It boasts a deep molasses flavour with a bitterness reminiscent of freshly brewed coffee. Expect a lingering aftertaste that lasts 10 minutes or more.
  • Gold Award Winner at the 2021 London Honey Awards: A true testament to its exceptional quality and taste.
  • Minerals and Polyphenols: Thanks to the fertile soils and the careful stewardship of the monks, this honey is higher in nutrients than almost all other honeys
  • 100% Raw and Unheated: The honey is cold-extracted and coarsely filtered to retain all natural enzymes, nutrients, and pollen.
  • Artisan-Crafted by Thomas and his beekeeping family: A dedicated beekeeper whose family has been practising beekeeping for generations, ensuring a product that is as pure as it is authentic.

Flavour

This Raw Greek Chestnut Honey offers a deliciously rich and deep molasses flavour with bitterness similar to freshly brewed coffee. You’ll still be tasting it in your throat long after you’ve had a spoonful. The bees feed not only on the blossoms but also the sap from the chestnut trees, which lends the honey a unique flavour profile. Expect nutty notes and a taste slightly reminiscent of maple syrup but richer and more malty. Please note that chestnut honey varies a lot from region to region—some varieties are mild, others, like this one, are strong and bitter.

Colour

This honey is extremely dark, almost black, which reflects its intense and rich flavour. When crystallised, it lightens slightly, turning into a deep brown hue.

Where Does It Come From?

This honey is exclusively harvested from the chestnut forests of Mount Athos in Greece, a sacred region that is renowned for its exceptional biodiversity and carefully protected by the monks. Securing permission to place hives here is incredibly difficult, making this Chestnut honey both rare and highly prized. The trees in this area produce a variety of chestnut honey that is darker and richer than most, contributing to its unique taste and high mineral content.

More About Thomas and His Beekeeping Heritage

Thomas is an artisan beekeeper from Central Greece, where beekeeping has been in his family for generations. His bees produce honey in some of the most pristine environments, including the Chestnut forests on Mount Athos. Thomas' dedication to traditional methods ensures that each jar of honey remains raw, unheated, and full of natural properties.

How Raw Honey is Different from Processed Honey

Raw honey generally means the honey has not been processed; it has come from the hive to the jar with minimal interference. Most mass produced honey is highly processed to give it a consistent look & flavour. It is usually drained of most of its pollen, as well as being heated and blended from many different sources - therefore having no resemblance to any honey that has come out of a hive. Raw honey tends to vary from batch to batch because it is not processed in a factory, filtered, or blended from different sources. Raw honey changes with the season and climate, the soil, what the bees feed on, and the temperament of the colonies. Each batch is unique.

Crystallisation

Raw honey naturally crystallises over time due to its glucose content. This process does not affect the quality of the honey. To return crystallised honey to a runny state, gently warm the jar. For more details on crystallisation, check our Runny Honey Guide or visit the section on Wikipedia regarding honey crystallisation.

About Us

Here at The Raw Honey Shop, we take honey very seriously and we believe honey should be RAW, unpasteurised, and 100% natural. Since 2008 we've been introducing our customers to a whole new world of pure all-natural unpasteurised raw honey. With a product catalogue consisting of over 30 different raw and organic honeys we have a variety to suit all tastes.

*Product photo is representative of this product. Honey colour and texture may vary depending on the season and level of crystallisation. Please check the product title and description for accurate contents.

Thomas

Artisan Raw Organic Greek Chestnut Honey from the Monks of Mount Athos - Gold Winner (Active 18)

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Raw Organic Greek Chestnut Honey from Mount Athos

This Raw Organic Greek Chestnut Honey from Mount Athos is not for the faint-hearted! It boasts a rich, deep molasses flavour with bitter notes reminiscent of freshly brewed coffee. You’ll still taste this honey in your throat 10 minutes after eating it. If you enjoy strong, bold honey, this is the one for you. Harvested with permission from the monks of Mount Athos, this extremely dark honey is 100% raw, unpasteurised, and certified organic. The chestnut trees on Mount Athos produce a unique honey, darker and more robust than other varieties, with a strong mineral and polyphenol content. Winner of the 2021 Gold Award at the London Honey Awards, this honey is sure to leave a lasting impression.

Product Highlights

  • Extremely Dark & Almost Black Honey: The honey from Mount Athos has a visually striking dark hue, much darker than most other chestnut honeys.
  • Strong & Robust Flavour: This honey has the strongest chestnut flavour you will find. It boasts a deep molasses flavour with a bitterness reminiscent of freshly brewed coffee. Expect a lingering aftertaste that lasts 10 minutes or more.
  • Gold Award Winner at the 2021 London Honey Awards: A true testament to its exceptional quality and taste.
  • Minerals and Polyphenols: Thanks to the fertile soils and the careful stewardship of the monks, this honey is higher in nutrients than almost all other honeys
  • 100% Raw and Unheated: The honey is cold-extracted and coarsely filtered to retain all natural enzymes, nutrients, and pollen.
  • Artisan-Crafted by Thomas and his beekeeping family: A dedicated beekeeper whose family has been practising beekeeping for generations, ensuring a product that is as pure as it is authentic.

Flavour

This Raw Greek Chestnut Honey offers a deliciously rich and deep molasses flavour with bitterness similar to freshly brewed coffee. You’ll still be tasting it in your throat long after you’ve had a spoonful. The bees feed not only on the blossoms but also the sap from the chestnut trees, which lends the honey a unique flavour profile. Expect nutty notes and a taste slightly reminiscent of maple syrup but richer and more malty. Please note that chestnut honey varies a lot from region to region—some varieties are mild, others, like this one, are strong and bitter.

Colour

This honey is extremely dark, almost black, which reflects its intense and rich flavour. When crystallised, it lightens slightly, turning into a deep brown hue.

Where Does It Come From?

This honey is exclusively harvested from the chestnut forests of Mount Athos in Greece, a sacred region that is renowned for its exceptional biodiversity and carefully protected by the monks. Securing permission to place hives here is incredibly difficult, making this Chestnut honey both rare and highly prized. The trees in this area produce a variety of chestnut honey that is darker and richer than most, contributing to its unique taste and high mineral content.

More About Thomas and His Beekeeping Heritage

Thomas is an artisan beekeeper from Central Greece, where beekeeping has been in his family for generations. His bees produce honey in some of the most pristine environments, including the Chestnut forests on Mount Athos. Thomas' dedication to traditional methods ensures that each jar of honey remains raw, unheated, and full of natural properties.

How Raw Honey is Different from Processed Honey

Raw honey generally means the honey has not been processed; it has come from the hive to the jar with minimal interference. Most mass produced honey is highly processed to give it a consistent look & flavour. It is usually drained of most of its pollen, as well as being heated and blended from many different sources - therefore having no resemblance to any honey that has come out of a hive. Raw honey tends to vary from batch to batch because it is not processed in a factory, filtered, or blended from different sources. Raw honey changes with the season and climate, the soil, what the bees feed on, and the temperament of the colonies. Each batch is unique.

Crystallisation

Raw honey naturally crystallises over time due to its glucose content. This process does not affect the quality of the honey. To return crystallised honey to a runny state, gently warm the jar. For more details on crystallisation, check our Runny Honey Guide or visit the section on Wikipedia regarding honey crystallisation.

About Us

Here at The Raw Honey Shop, we take honey very seriously and we believe honey should be RAW, unpasteurised, and 100% natural. Since 2008 we've been introducing our customers to a whole new world of pure all-natural unpasteurised raw honey. With a product catalogue consisting of over 30 different raw and organic honeys we have a variety to suit all tastes.

*Product photo is representative of this product. Honey colour and texture may vary depending on the season and level of crystallisation. Please check the product title and description for accurate contents.

View Full Details
1
What is the story behind Thomas and his family beekeeping operation?
The first thing you should know about Thomas is that he is very warm hearted and very passionate. Although his family have been beekeeping for many generations his story with us starts one day back in 2016. Thomas and his girlfriend Christina turned up at our warehouse in Brighton. At the time he was studying at the University of Brighton. He came with samples of his family’s Greek honey. This was fortuitous because I had been seeking Greek honey for some time but had not been able to meet any producers who met our standards. Anyway, we were blown away by the quality of the honeys, particularly the dark ones, like Oak. We learnt that the family beekeeping operation consisted of Thomas, his sister Elena, his Dad Giorgios and his aunt Ana. They were a small operation at the time but Thomas was ambitious and determined to grow the business. Since then, we have worked closely with Thomas and encouraged him to get organic certification and to focus on providing honeys, which are most popular with our customers, like Oak, Fir and Orange Blossom. Now his business has grown substantially, and he has gained a big place in the hearts of our customers – particularly following the floods in September 2023, which destroyed 300 of his hives. He has since recovered, thanks in part to donations from customers. His business goes from strength to strength.
2
What is the status of Thomas’ honey?
His honey is 100% raw, meaning it’s never heated or filtered beyond coarse filtering to remove any debris from the hive. processed. This ensures it retains all its natural enzymes, pollen, and beneficial properties. In addition, he recently gained organic status. This means regular inspections and analysis of the honey. His bees forage in unpolluted areas free from pesticides and synthetic chemicals. Also, there are other requirements, such as no sugar feeding.
3
What types of honey does Thomas produce?
Thomas produces several honeydew honeys (honeys from tree sap and aphid activity). There is mountain oak, red fir, pine and vanilla fir. Then there is Chestnut, which is a mixture of honeydew and blossom honey. He has a few blossom honeys such as orange blossom and thyme. In addition, Thomas is developing some new products for us, including a mountain honey with propolis.
4
Where does Thomas keep his hives?
Thomas has most of his hives in the mountains of central Thessaly, where his Oak, Red Fir and Mountain honey come from. In lower areas of Thessaly his bees create Thyme honey. These are all very remote and wild places. On the island of Evia, he has hives for Pine honey. Thomas’ Chestnut honey comes from Mount Athos, which is in the Macedonian region of northern Greece. Then in the Peloponnese in the south of Greece he has hives for Orange Blossom honey. Specifically the hives are in the organic orangeries of the Laconia country. On Mount Mainlo, also in the Peloponnese, his bees create the famous Vanilla Fir honey, which can only be found in Greece, nowhere else in the world.
5
What else should I know about Thomas’ honey?
This is very much a family operation. His family oversees everything, from hive management to extraction and packaging, ensuring top quality in every jar. At busy times he will work with other family members, such as his Uncle Stefanos, who helps him with the Red Fir hives. In recent years, the honey has won awards in the Great Taste Awards and London Honey Awards. For instance, his Chestnut that comes via the Monks of Mount Athos won Gold in the London Honey Awards.
6
Any recommendations for ways to use Thomas’ honey?
Thomas’ honeys are very thick and strongly antibacterial. His Oak and Chestnut are ideal for easing the discomfort of sore throats and coughs. If you have a sore throat take a tea spoonful of his Oak honey and tip your head back and let the honey coat your entire throat. Do not drink anything for 10 minutes, so that the honey has a chance to properly work on the inflammation. You will find it eases any discomfort.
7
Why are Thomas’ honeys so thick and antibacterial?
The Greek climate helps to reduce moisture in honey making them especially thick. This means the natural enzymes are more concentrated than in honeys that have higher moisture content. This may be the reason why Thomas’ honey generally has a higher Activity level than other honeys.

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