The Attic summer table: cold melon wedges drizzled with the thyme honey of Mount Hymettus and scattered with coarse sea salt, a combination as old as the Athenian agora
Origin: Athens and Attica, Ancient Greece
From the journey of Musk Melon.
Hippocrates included the melon in his dietary writings, recommending it as a cooling food suited to summer fevers, and Theophrastus described cultivation methods in his botanical works. By the classical period, melons were grown in gardens across Attica and exported through the Aegean trade network. The honey of Mount Hymettus, the limestone ridge rising to the east of Athens, was considered the finest honey in the ancient world by Greek, Roman, and Arab writers alike: a dense, dark, intensely herbal honey produced by bees feeding on wild thyme (thymus capitatus) and oregano, with a distinctive resinous and floral character that sets it apart from milder honeys. The Greek culinary instinct to season sweet things with salt is one of the most consistent features of Hellenic food culture across three thousand years; it persists in the dusting of feta with dried oregano and honey, in the scattering of salt over sliced tomatoes, and in this preparation of melon.
Hymettus honey is available in the UK and Australia through specialist Greek food importers and some delicatessens. Any high-quality Greek thyme honey from Crete or the Peloponnese is an acceptable substitute. Avoid light, mild honeys such as acacia or clover: they lack the herbal bitterness and complexity that makes the combination with melon work. This preparation is the direct ancestor of the modern Greek practice of drizzling honey over yoghurt, cheese, and fruit, one of the most persistent flavour habits of Hellenic food culture.
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