Pine honey

This article is an orphan, as few or no other articles link to it. Please introduce links to this page from related articles; suggestions may be available. (November 2006)

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2008)

Pine honey is a type of honeydew honey. It is produced by honey bees that collect honeydew (sugary secretions) from a scale insect species, Marchalina hellenica, which lives on the sap of certain pine species. When the scale insects feed, they excrete waste in the form of honeydew.

The pine species on which Marchalina hellenica can be found are the Turkish Pine (Pinus brutia) and, to a lesser extent, Aleppo Pine (Pinus halepensis), Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) and Stone Pine (Pinus pinea). The insects hide in the cracks and under the scales of the bark of these trees, beneath a white cotton-like wax they secrete.

Pine honey is produced in western (mainly southwestern) Turkey, a number of Greek islands, and New Zealand.

External links

• Airborne's New Zealand Honey Collections
• A Beekeeper's Blog: More on Pine Honey Production

This food ingredient-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · d · e

This bee-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · d · e