Pop off the lid, and this raw amber-colored Cardoon honey will sweep you away with its powerful aromas of tropical fruit and dried Mediterranean flowers. Cardoon honey has a vibrant sweet & sour flavor and a slightly bitter finish. This complex profile makes it the perfect match for cheese with a big personality and savory main dishes like roasted meat. Miele di Cardo is the most common honey in Sardinia. The island boasts more than 300 varieties of Cardoon, a thistle-like plant in the sunflower family. ...read more
Luigi Manias, our beekeeper, dedicates 50 out of his 200 bee hives to the exclusive production of cardoon honey. His bees access the Galactites Tomentosus variety, or White Thorn, which fill the vast fields around Mount Arci Natural Preserve. True to Sardinian custom, Luigi harvests his cardoon honey on exactly June 24th, the feast of San Giovanni Battista, a traditional honey harvest day.
Like all honey, this Miele di Cardo has homeopathic and culinary uses. It is considered a treatment for coughs and sore throats and is the world's oldest sweetener. Sometimes Cardoon honey crystallizes. Crystallization is normal; it is a sign of excellent-quality raw honey. If your honey is crystalized, but you'd prefer it to be liquid, just gently heat it up in a bain-marie and stir until it transforms into liquid.
Its rich vegetation and lack of pollution make Sardinia the perfect honey-producing region. It is believed that beekeeping has been a tradition on the island since at least the 17th century. The Manias family, in particular, is a third-generation beekeeper in Ales with the most prolonged documented beekeeping activity in Sardegna.
