Peloponnese

The southern peninsula, from the fir forests of Arcadia to the olive groves of Messinia and the port of Nafplio.

On Mount Mainalo, beekeepers produce Meli Elatis Menalou Vanilia, registered in 1996 as the first Greek honey protected by the EU. It is about 80% fir honeydew, pale with a pearly look, and slow to crystallise. Honey is a high-fraud food: an EU check found 46% of 320 honey samples imported into the EU suspected of added sugar syrup, so we will buy it only with a batch lab report.

In Messinia, Kalamata PDO oil carries a naming trap: since a Greek ministerial decision of December 2016, Kalamata may be used as a synonym for the Kalamon olive variety wherever it is grown, so only the full PDO wording proves origin.

Nafplio has a Komboloi Museum, opened in 1998, with a working bead workshop and more than 700 pieces dated from 1550 to 1950. The komboloi grew out of the komboskini, the knotted prayer rope of Mount Athos monks. Ours is horn, and we will not sell coral or anything labelled new faturan.

All three objects are being verified, and together they make our Peloponnese box.