Anama ("heather") honey (also known in Greece as "reiki") comes from bees that forage on the native heather that grows at high elevations on Ikaria.

Our Anama honey is pure, raw and never heated. It is very thick (in most years almost solid), rich, strongly flavored and mildly sweet and high in trace minerals. It has the aroma of a beehive and an earthy flavor profile with notes of beeswax, sassafras, butterscotch, toffee, bourbon and toasty oak with a very slight medicinal finish. It is a very unique honey and for those who like robust flavors. 

Anama is not good for cooking. Its flavors are too pronounced and it would dominate the dish. And as is the case with all of our raw honeys, the heat would destroy its healthy biological properties. Rather, like the other Ikarian honeys, it is best consumed plain (delicious!) or with foods like yogurt, bread or cheese where the unique flavors of the honey are highlighted. It is particularly good with cheese!

Anama is very special and is only available in meaningful quantities in years when there is a confluence of favorable weather conditions: adequate rainfall patterns for the Fall heather to bloom, but not too much rain following the bloom, mild late-Fall/early-winter temperatures allowing the bees to be active, and then colder temperatures during and after the harvest.