Ashwathama Honey

The high nutritional and medicinal values as well as the hidden efforts of Royal Bee Brothers’ honey hunters, who risk their lives while collecting the honey, make this Ashwathama Raw Forest Honey absolutely exceptional, flavorful and delicious. This is one of the best forest honey harvested from the Saranda forest, a dense forest in the hilly region of West Singhbhum district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. This honey is particularly rare but with good reason, and the story behind it is quite extraordinary.

About Saranda Forest: The vicinity, the beautiful cliff and undulating terrain under the feet, the nose breathing fresh cool air, the energy of nature at its work, where darkness rules in the middle of the day, where the power of logic vanishes to differentiate between reality and imagination, when you lost in infinite in adoring the beauty of nature; then you must be in the in Saranda. This forest is home to the Ho & Birhor tribes. It accommodates endangered flying lizards, majestic wild elephants, more than 40 species of mammals, 162 species of birds, 9 species of amphibians and 33 species of reptiles. The Saranda forest, , Asia’s largest dense Sal Forest, known as land of 700 hills, is also enriched with trees such as Harin, Mahua, Kusum, Tilai, Mangoes, Jamun, Jackfruit, Piar and Gular etc.

Honey Origin: Once in a year, for a whole month, the wild honeybees come to gather the nectar from the flowers, to which they turn into honey, making it distinct, unique, tasteful and luscious from the other varieties of honey. This honey is produced by wild honeybees namely Apis dorsata. These large indigenous honeybee species often nest high on cliffs or in high trees. Apis dorsata is an economically important bee species due to the large quantities of honey that it can produce. It is one of the most dangerous animals of the Saranda jungles due to their threatening defensive behavior. The large body size of Apis dorsata allows them to have a greater flight and foraging range than in comparison to other species of honeybees. The aggregations of these bees formed on the tallest trees or cliffs, introduce a major challenge to access. Furthermore, the natural distribution of these bees overlaps with that of tigers, which have been known to kill honey hunters.

Honey Harvesting Process: The pollution and pesticide free forest region of Saranda flourish with thousands of exotic floral species in April/May. It is known as the best honey harvesting season as the honeycombs are filled with honey in these months. Honey hunter team camps deep inside the forest at least 7-10 days in advance to start preparing for harvesting by identifying and marking the trees with honeycombs. Either ropes or makeshift ladders are used to reach the top of the trees or cliffs and small bundles of dried leaves surrounding wet ones are burnt to create a smoke which drives the bees out of the comb. Honeybees adopt a very peculiar behavior, called defense waves when they sense a potential threat — they raise their wings and create a wave around the hive as an alarm signal. The honey collectors stay still for several minutes along with smoke to calm the bees and reduce their aggression. Traditionally, the honey collection is done on a moonless night to minimize the number of flying bees once the colony is disturbed. The honey hunter harvests only a portion of honey filled chamber, without harming the honeybees so that bees can return back to repopulate the hive for the next season of honey gathering.

Tales & Rituals: Honey has tremendous socio-economic value in terms of its use in rituals, social, and health benefits. In Saranda forest, days before the harvest, preparations begin in earnest which articulates a harmonic relationship between people and the nature. Rituals and folklore play an important role, sing to the bees and ask for forgiveness, religious prayers are performed, followed by chanting of mantras, sacrifice of flowers, rice beer and the offering of last season honey to the goddess Vamuna. It is believed that goddess Vamuna protects the honey collectors from wild animals, wild bees and other threats of the forest.

Honey Extraction Process: The harvested honey is manually squeezed out from the honeycombs by separating the honey and wax. In the process of harvesting, we use a normal cotton cloth which removes only hive debris and all the natural goodies like propolis, royal jelly, wax and bee pollen remain in the honey which provide a unique flavor and aroma to it. It is then hygienically filled in the glass bottles. It is done manually, and no plant or machinery is used in the entire process. This adds in making the honey more enriched, nutritious and free from the hazardous effects that can be caused by using soiled and greasy machines.

Color & Taste: With smoky & woody wild in taste, it is thick and dark black in color. Compared to the conventional way of centrifugally extracting honey, the natural pollens are not removed during manual extraction which provides a specific natural flavor to this honey. This raw forest honey is unprocessed, unheated and from all types of adulterations & contaminations such as sugar, corn syrup, artificial additives, coloring agents, or preservatives. In fact, we have not deeply filtered it.

Benefits:

• It is a Bee Pollen and Iron enriched super-food which contains naturally occurring Vitamins, Minerals, Amino Acids, Micro-enzymes. It is loaded with Antioxidants, Phyto-nutrients and Anti-ageing compounds.
• It boosts the Immune System and provides natural Strength to the body to fight against seasonal diseases. It is known for its Anti-inflammatory & Antibacterial properties.
• It is beneficial in lowering the risk of heart diseases. Recent studies have revealed that the forest honey lowers the bad cholesterol (LDL) in the body and raises the levels of good cholesterol (HDL).
• Two teaspoons of forest honey before going to bed triggers the Salivary Glands to create more Saliva. This in turn helps in the Lubrication of Airways, lowering your Cough. It is beneficial in reducing Inflammation in the airways of the lungs by breaking the Mucus.
• The Anti-ageing properties of this forest honey help in stopping the formation of Wrinkles.
• The honey contains natural Hydrogen Peroxide which is a well-known Antiseptic. Combined with its Anti-fungal and Antibacterial properties, honey serves as a robust remedy for fighting infections.
• The honey contains natural Hydrogen Peroxide which is a well-known Antiseptic. Combined with its Anti-fungal and Antibacterial properties, honey serves as a robust remedy for fighting infections.

Pick me up: A spoonful of forest honey can give you an instant jolt because it contains both glucose and fructose. For a rich topping on bread, potatoes or salads, cornbread, biscuits, muffins and pancakes, to make a perfect sugar free honey tea, it's good on virtually everything.

Our pure honey don't just care about your health; It care about your taste buds too.