Honey, a sweet liquid produced by bees using the nectar of flowers, is known for its medicinal benefits across cultures. From being used in traditional medicine to a staple addition to pantries, the light golden or brown liquid has more than a hundred varieties in the world.
Bees convert the nectar into this sticky substance, so they can survive when there are not many flowers blossoming. But have you heard of any variety of honey that is toxic or aphrodisiac? It is called Mad Honey, and it is only produced in Nepal and Turkey.
In the Himalayan regions, giant honey bees are responsible for producing it using the nectar and pollen of Rhododendron. It contains grayanotoxins that make it moderately toxic with narcotic effects.
Mad Honey Was Used As A Bio Weapon In Ancient Greece
Many ancient Greek texts mention that Xenophon, a Greek military leader, wrote about this ingredient in his Anabasis. He mentioned its effects on soldiers in 401 BCE.
Reportedly, in 65 BCE, King Mithridates used mad honey as a biological weapon during the Third Mithridatic War against Roman soldiers under General Pompey.
In the 18th century, this substance was important to Europe and added to alcoholic beverages.
Production And Collection Of Mad Honey In Nepal
In the Hindu Kush Himalayan region, which includes central Nepal and northern India, the bees produce this golden liquid in the spring season when rhododendrons bloom in the valleys. They form Apis laboriosa nests with single and open combs. These hives are found on tree limbs, on the cliffside, at 1,200 to 4,000 m elevation.
These hives are found on tree limbs, on the cliffside, at 1,200 to 4,000 m elevation. Photo: Nepal Hiking Official/ Instagram
Unlike your regular groups of honey collectors, mad honey is collected by a specific tribe - the Gurung people, in Nepal and northern India. It's a Tibetan community, and they have been scaling cliffsides to collect the sticky liquid for centuries.
They use rope ladders to reach the hives and set them ablaze from underneath to ensure bees leave their home. However, these nests have been declining in the region because of overharvesting, road construction, and dam creation.
A report published in Science Direct claims that the number of cliffs hosting bee hives and the number of colonies one can support have been on a steep decline annually. A 500 g jar of this honey costs NPR 4,000 - 4,500 (approximately Rs 2,505 - 2,818)
Mad Honey As A Sex Stimulant And Its Dangerous Side Effects
RSC Advances published a report in the National Library of Medicine listing the benefits of mad honey.
'Mad honey has been commonly used as an aphrodisiac (sexual stimulant), in alternative therapy for gastrointestinal disorders (peptic ulcer disease, dyspepsia, and gastritis), and for hypertension for a long time,' read an excerpt. Traditionally, it is also used to treat sore throat, flu, diabetes, and arthritis.
But, hold on a bit. Don't go consuming it just after reading this one excerpt. The dose has to be moderated by a physician or a traditional medicine practitioner. The Texas Heart Institute Journal recorded a case of a couple - the husband being 50 years old, and the wife 42 years old.
To improve their libido and add a spark to their intimate life, they ate mad honey, made in Turkey, for a week. Result? Within a couple of hours of consuming increased amounts of the substance, they presented at an emergency ward with acute inferior myocardial infarction (a heart attack caused by sudden blockage in the blood flow).
Other symptoms include low blood pressure, respiratory difficulty, reduced heart rate, dizziness, blurred vision, and lightheadedness. In extreme cases, the toxic compound in made honey can reduce the blood pressure to potentially dangerous levels, causing arrhythmia, nausea, seizures, fainting, muscle paralysis, atrioventricular blocks, and loss of consciousness.
The Nepali honey can cause respiratory difficulty, dizziness, blurred vision, and lightheadedness. Photo: Brothers Drake Meadery/ Instagram
It is interesting to note that more than a hundred variants of honey have no toxic compound, not even the variety of mad honey produced in Europe from Rhododendron ferrugineum, found in the Alps and Pyrenees. But the one created in Nepal and Turkey needs supervision (and even a prescription) before you taste a drop of it.
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
