Nature in Greece | Mountains, lakes, forests, fauna and flora
Honey processing by the beehouse in Tsepelovo
Today we, the whole family that is, had an enlightening visit to the Beehouse in Tsepelovo village where Moses explained to us all steps involved in honey processing. The following pictures describe each step that the bee keeper follows in order to process the honey…
Allium ursinum or wild garlic
Wild garlic also known as ramsons or bear leek, is a wild relative of chives and is native to Zagori. The Latin name is due to the brown bear’s taste for the bulbs and its habit of digging up the ground to get at them;…
Craterellus cornucopioides
Craterellus cornucopioides, or horn of plenty, is an edible mushroom. It can also be known as the black chanterelle, black trumpet, trompette de la mort (French) or trumpet of the dead. The Cornucopia, in Greek mythology, referred to the magnificent horn of the nymph…
Amanita caesarea
Amanita caesarea, commonly known in English as Caesar’s mushroom, is a highly regarded edible mushroom in the genus Amanita, native to Zagori, Greece. This mushroom was a favorite of early rulers of the Roman Empire hence it’s name Caesarea. It was known to and valued…
Autumn mushrooms
Autumn is the best time to go hunting for mushrooms. The past few weeks were quite rainy for the season so when the temperature rose a bit and the sun shone the magic world of the fungi made it’s glorious appearance in the forests…
Blackberries
Greek: βατόμουρα A purply black-coloured berry comprising many individual seed-containing fruits surrounding a cone-shaped core. Wonderfully juicy, they’re good raw (straight from the hedge!) or cooked and are bursting with vitamin C. Wild, they’re often called brambles meaning any impenetrable scrub. Sometimes called the “Cabernet…
Boletus
The name is derived from the Latin term bōlētus ‘mushroom’ from the Ancient Greek “βωλίτης”, ultimately from bōlos/βώλος ‘lump’ or ‘clod’. In Greece Boletus is also called “the king of mushrooms” – “βασιλομανίταρο”. The fruit body has a large cap which on occasion can reach…
Cantharellus cibarius (Chanterelle)
Cantharellus cibarius, or else known as the chanterelle, golden chanterelle or girolle, is a fungus. It is orange or yellow, meaty and funnel-shaped. On the lower surface, underneath the smooth cap, it has gill-like ridges that run almost all the way down its stipe,…
Morchella deliciosa
Morchella deliciosa is a species of edible fungus in the family Morchellaceae. It is a widespread species that is characterized by having white ridges, at least when young. They are found growing in the mountain of Mitsikeli, in the Zagori region in Epirus, under fir…
