São Marcos Blog

                       

The area of São Marcos da Serra belongs to the protected region of "Mel da Serra de Monchique".  The honeybees of the serra produce a very high quality dark yellow and smooth honey. The quality is so high because of he great biodiversity and the pure and clean air here.  The bees visit the flowers of rosemary, eucalyptus, heather, orange tree, lavender, cistus, prunus etc.  One hive gives on average 25 kg of honey per year. Did you know that 1 honeybee makes about 1 twelfth (1/12) of a teaspoon of honey in her entire life? There are around 630 official producers of Mel da Serra de Monchique honey.

In July the honey is harvested by the bee-keepers of the serra.  The beautiful golden "nectar of the Gods" is extracted from the combs, but not 100% of all the honey can be taken.  So, afterwards the combs are put in a large pot of water which is gently heated to a boil.  The wax dissolves and can easily be taken off the top and after a while the mix of honey and water is changing into a thick dark syrup - the heavenly água-mel (honey-water).  Finally the syrup should be filtered to get rid of impurities.  It has a more intense flavour, is a little less sweet and is more liquid than honey.

The água-mel is key ingredient for the bolo de aguamel, a special cake from the serra, but it is also eaten with bread, used as a sweetener in tea, used in dressings for salads or as a dip for fresh cheese. It can also be used like Worcestershire or soja sauce.