Botany

The woody dark brown horn-shaped pods do not look edible at all. They look dry and extremely tough, with seeds as hard as stone. This is how most people perceive carob, especially if one is not from a carob growing geography. One hesitates to call carob a fruit - surely it is not a vegetable, but it is usually referred to as carob bean and it must be nature's most peculiar food item.

Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Directorate for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) Giorgiana Hosu said on Friday that drugs worth a total of 16 million euros have been seized last year.

Photo credit: Radu TUTA / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

Police in Attica on Thursday arrested six suspected members of a cannabis ring ? five Vietnamese nationals and one Greek ? who are alleged to have made some 50 million euros in profits by producing high-quality cannabis in three maisonettes in Pendeli, Pikermi and Lagonissi.

The 'povidla' of Bargau is the plum jam produced on the Bargau Valley of Bistrita-Nasaud County in northern Romania; its shelf life is remarkable - at least two years, with no sugar or preservatives added.

Photo credit: (c) CRISTIAN NISTOR / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

Honeydew honey, a rare yet extremely healthy bee product, is these days the central attraction of the tenth edition of the Honey Fair that takes place in the city of Campina.

Honey varieties on display at the Campina Honey Fair
Photo credit: (c) Anamaria TOMA / AGERPRES STREAM

The mother of Sakarya Governor Hüseyin Avni Co? is standing against municipal teams tasked with removing trees by a lake in the southern Turkish province of Isparta.

The production price of Turkish olive oil has reached 12 Turkish Liras ($5) per kilogram, but there remains a shortage in the sector.

By Tania Georgiopoulou

Trucks carrying olives from the Peloponnese ? mainly Ilia ? have been ferried across the Adriatic Sea, as traders from Italy have for the first time bought not only olive oil in bulk but also olives, to cover the loss in Italian production that has reached 35 percent this year.

Turkey?s olive oil exports have decreased by almost 50 percent in the last two months from the same period of the previous year as producers kept their products in stock with the expectation of a rise in prices, according to sector representatives.

New regulations decreasing the amount of salt in tomato paste and edible olives and forbidding the addition of extra sugar to fruit juices have entered into force with the start of the new year.

The Food, Agriculture and Livestock Ministry said in a statement that efforts to protect the health of the consumers continued non-stop and that the new regulation was part of these efforts.