1. Honey:
Since 1999 La Casa de La Miel has been supporting the island's beekeepers with a product that is tasty and very beneficial for the Island's biodiversity.
In the Canary archipelago there is an indigenous species of bee, which is a sign of the importance of beekeeping in Tenerife. Although the Black Canary Island bee has lived on the islands for more than 2,000 years, in 1799 José de Viera y Clavijo, in his Diccionario de Historia Natural, noted the importance of honey production in Tenerife and the prestige of broom honey, while the 19th century hive censuses recorded 2746 hives in 1802.
Today, Tenerife's honeys win prizes for their special flavour and colour.
2. Wine: Tenerife has two main wines, red and white.
Before the Canary Island banana became the great ambassador of the islands, Tenerife's letter of introduction to the world was its wines. Since 1496, when the Spanish conquistadors arrived on the island with vines to plant, the island has cultivated a wine that has been present in historic moments such as Benjamin Franklin's toast to the signing of the US Declaration of Independence and has been mentioned in texts by Shakespeare, Walter Scott and Lord Byron, as well as being part of the shipping route, carrying exports to be taken all over the world.
Despite being a relatively small territory, due to the island's geology there is a great variety of grapes: marmajuelo and malvasía in whites and listán negro and negramoll in reds among others.
3. Canary Island cheese:
One of the surprises that Tenerife holds are its cheeses. Made mainly from goat and sheep milk, the cheeses produced in Tenerife are generally eaten fresh or mixed (combining cow's, goat's and sheep's milk). They are soft cheeses that are used as the main ingredient or as an accompaniment to typical dishes, such as stews or escaldones.
4. Typical Tenerife handicrafts:
These include the Calado and the Roseta, where it is "drawn" on the fabrics, held in tension, unravelled and used for table linen and other decorations. In addition to basket weaving, which also requires a lot of dedication and where palm leaves and chestnut sticks are used to make baskets, lamps and rugs.
Maximilianas, which are ceramics used in costume jewellery. Rosettes, which are used for plate-holders and as parasols to protect from the sun, bowls made from the roots of Teide plants and decorated ceramics are some of the souvenirs you can bring back to your loved ones.
Finally, cigars and aloe plants are two very specialised crops for the island as they need humid and dry conditions respectively. Cigars originated from Cuba and in 1723 a licence was given to grow tobacco on the island as thousands of Tenerife islanders left to go to Cuba in search of work. With this exchange, "chinchales" were created in Tenerife, specialising in cigars. When sailing declined in favour of steam and the Canary Islands were no longer part of the route, channels were opened to continue this unique trade.
The small factories in the Canary Islands reached such a high level of quality that they have placed the Canarian handmade cigar among the most appreciated by the best connoisseurs in the world.
The Aloe Vera of Tenerife is cultivated in exceptional conditions that are not found in other places: volcanic substrates from the Teide that provide extraodinary nutrients, altitudes of 200 metres above sea level, strong winds from the Atlantic loaded with oceanic salts that blow continuously over the mother plants stimulating them, lots of sun exposure combined with temperatures that allow the aloe plants to grow, being considered as the best that are cultivated in the world.