OUR IDENTITY
Twelve independent honey producers with shared ideals and a common vision for beekeeping and honey production have created the group “Melitteas”. Our Cooperative is managed by a 5-member Board of Directors and its highest body is the General Assembly. The Co-op has been approved by the Lamia District Civil Court. Its operations are monitored by the National Register of Agricultural Cooperatives of the Greek Ministry of Rural Development and Food.
Our work is supported by academic institutions and research centers, like the Beekeeping Laboratory of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the Institute of Mediterranean Forest Ecosystems.
SUSTAINABILITY
With our love and passion for beekeeping and nature and our long experience, we manage our bee colonies based on good practice principles. This ensures raw, top quality and highly nutritious honey, as nature offers it to the bee and the bee to us.
Under the bright Mediterranean sunlight, bees and humans work together in harmony to bring you our products. Our bee colonies are transferred to mountainous areas to produce a luscious fir honey from Mount Iti National Park, pine honey from Northern Evia and Thasos, and oak honey from Western Fthiotida.
OUR NAME
According to Greek mythology, to protect her son Zeus from his filicidal father Cronus, Rhea decided to hide her son in a cave and let him be raised by the Nymphs Amalthea and Melissa (the Greek word for “bee”). Melissa raised Zeus with great care, feeding him honey in order to give him the strength and wisdom that would help him prevail as the King of the Gods in Mount Olympus. In Melissa’s honor, Zeus was also called “Melitteas” (“honeyed”).
Just like our ancestors in Ancient Greece, we feel respect for this wonderful insect, the bee. Connecting myth and reality, past and present, and the 12 gods of Mount Olympus with the 12 founding members of our group, we chose the name “Melitteas”.
MELITTEAS – ORGANIC
The Co-op has already set up a fully controlled bee farm for the production of organic bee products certified by BioHellas. Our organic products will be commercially available from May 2017 onwards.
