Pine honey
Pine honey çam balı is a type of honeydew honey. It is a sweet and spicy honey, with some woody notes, a resinous fragrance and dark amber color. It is a common breakfast dish in Turkey, where it is drizzled over yoghurt and eaten with bread.
Pine honey is an unusual honey because it is not produced entirely by honey bees. It is produced by bees that collect honeydew from a scale insect species called Marchalina hellenica, which lives on the sap of certain pine trees. The marchalina hellenica can be found on the Turkish Pine, as well as the Aleppo Pine, Austrian Pine, Scots Pine and Stone Pine.
Pine honey is produced in eastern Mediterranean Pinus brutia forests. Turkey produces 92% of the world’s pine honey. Muğla Province accounts for 80% of Turkish pine honey production.
