Unusual honeys

We have gathered some very interesting and unbelievable honey types for you, do enjoy this sweet article.

• TUALANG HONEY

Malaysian Tualang honey is a known therapeutic honey extracted from the honeycombs of the Tualang tree and has been reported for its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and wound healing properties. What is really interesting about this honey is the way it is gathered.

The “honey hunters”, as they are known, are gatherings of neighborhood locals who head to far off corners of the Malaysian wilderness consistently looking for the uncommon nectar, sitting on the top of the 60-75 m tall tualang trees, the bees are very smart insects they protect their property and liquid treasure. Like New Zealand’s “Manuka” honey (which we will talk about later), also hailed for its supposed medicinal qualities, Malaysian tualang honey is expensive, fetching around $45-$60 a kilo— an enormous amount for the local people from rural poor communities.

When they find a tree with a lot of honey, the hunters climb up the tree at night, always at night, holding a torch in the hand (as there are no street lamps in the jungle). As they approached a hive on the top of a tree they start hitting the torch against the trunk and A flood of embers starts falling down, the other hunters called out to the bees to come down J, a swarm of bees rushed out, chasing the sparks of light, thus granting the hunters precious moments to cut through the hive and fill a bucket with chunks of the precious honeycomb.

The men worked through the night, slowly moving around from tree to tree, only stopping just before dawn, having collected all the honey can. Usually around 40 – 50 kg. Almost every “hunter” is stung numerous times a night, but they continued working, because that is just all the day’s (night in this case) work. Just smear a little honey on that wound old chap.

• MANNA HONEY is a honey with a geographic protection from the EU, it is only produced in “Strandja” national park in Bulgaria, where it is believed to be the tomb of the Egyptian goddess Bastet, and it was the capital of the ancient Tracians.

An extremely important role in forming the manna plays the leaf lice that parasites the trees. They drill holes on the leaves, a sweet, sticky juice runs down out of them. The leaf lice, take up some of the liquid, enrich it with the enzymes from their digestive system and release it to the surface of the leaves in the form of valuable nutritional material called – manna. From this point on the bees start to play their part in the workflow. They collect the enriched with enzymes manna, process it and produce the unique healing honey with it. Manna honey is composed of a large amount of free amino acids and the mineral substances in it are between 5 and 9 times more than in light nectarine species. The electrical conductivity of the honey is 2,2 millisimens. These undisputable facts also determine the great healing power of manna honey.

One of the biggest proofs of the special qualities of manna honey is its rich content of vital vitamins: B1, B2, PP, B12 (about 16 times more than in apples and apricots), B6, folic acid, biotin etc. The rich mineral composition of manna honey determines its alkalizing action, which is why it is recommended to athletes and all physical exercise activities to prevent muscle fever and fatigue. It has the ability to strengthen the immune system.

• MANUKA HONEY 

Everything has been written for the Manuka honey and its outstanding qualities like: MGO ™ 300+ Manuka honey naturally has a rich content of Methylglyoxal (MGO) – the substance responsible for its antibacterial effect. Origin from New Zealand Manuka honey is known as the most powerful antibiotic, it has antioxidant, antiviral and antiseptic properties, it is a reliable ally for health. But I can tell you two things about this honey: 1^st it is really expensive, ranging from $200 up to $500 per kilo, BUT it is not the most expensive honey on our list (stay tune) and second if you haven’t tasted it, I tell you it tastes as you have swallowed a bunch of random pills and it smells like pharmacy.

• YEMENIES CAVE HONEY The most expensive honey in our list and in the world is the Yemeni cave honey, with prices ranging from $1200 to $1600 per kilo. In the remote mountains of  Yemen inside the caves the bees make their wild hives in order to hide from the hot, hot sun, thus they protect themselves and the unique honey. This honey has a very thick consistency and amber color, it is really like a fresh made caramel straight out of the pan of some Michelin star chef. The price of the honey also comes from the fact that this caves are very hard to find and the quantity is so very low. The beekeepers have to crawl inside the caves through narrow fissures in the rock and collect just enough so that the bees can still thrive without damaging the hive.

• HONEY FROM ARGENTINA RIVERS

The raw honey is harvested all along the banks of the Paraná River in Argentina. The beehives are floating on wood pallets in the river. The beekeepers collect it in small boats; then the pure honey, is shipped straight from to local shops or to the airport for luxury boutiques around the world. The texture of the honey is very liquid and the color is crystal clear. Stock is extremely limited and it sells out very quickly as you would expect of such a rare substance. These traditional methods of beekeeping in Argentina are kept in tandem with nature, for generations.

• HERBAL HONEY also known as multicolor or bouquet honey, it is the most commonly known honey in the world, it is derived from the nectar of many polish and mountain plants. But we save it for the number one spot in our list, because we want to give you a different point of view of how the most common honey is made in the most uncommon and hard way.

And here are the facts:

• Honey bees collect pollen and nectar of about two million flowers to fill a jar of honey. For this purpose, they travel over 90,000 km.
  • In one flight the bee brings no more than 0.02 grams of honey.
  • To collect 4 kilograms of honey (1 gallon) the combined flight distance from the bees equal the way to the moon and back.
  • For the rest of his life, an average worker bee makes 1,5 tablespoons of honey.
  • The bees have the best built-in natural GPS in the world

Each and every extraction of honey is one of a kind and it is determined by the area and the period of the year. Next time you eat a spoon of honey you better be(e) grateful!