Greek-Australian Beekeeper Mr Mala Has Been Making Honey for 82 Years – And Still Hand-Bottles It in His Windsor Backyard
Pick up a jar from Prahran Market and taste his lifetime of experience, which began on an island in the Aegean Sea and has continued in Melbourne since the ’60s.
Photography: Pete Dillon
by Jo Rittey
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Kyriakos Malathounis – or Kerry Mala, as he calls himself for the benefit of non-Greek speakers in Melbourne – has been working with bees since he was five years old. Now 87, he maintains hives in his backyard in Windsor, gets through a litre of honey with his wife, Ekaterini, every week in coffees, teas and desserts, and is stung five to 10 times a day. A fit man, he tends daily to his extensive vegetable garden; olive and citrus trees; and – of course – his bees. His family think the bee stings and honey are the reason he doesn’t suffer from arthritis and enjoys such good health.