Would any of you be interested in wild pure honey? Direct from source.

[iPwnz]

Would anyone here be interested in wild raw honey? First of all, I can assure you that the honey is 99.99% pure (100% is not possible lol). Its raw honey and only filtered through multiple layers (traditional clothing filtration process). Nothing else is added. I can actually attest to this. I’ve seen bee keepers at work at their homes. I had some photographs of an uncle at work but I seemed to have deleted them to clear some memory.

Anyway the reason I’m posting about this now is because this December (probably next week, I’m currently not in my best health) I’ll be going to my grampa’s village which is located in a very rural area in the hills where there is no cell reception. The villagers communicate using radio handsets The nearest town is about 40mins to over an hour depending on the weather. If it rains then it’s almost impossible to traverse on the roads using motor vehicles. That’s how rural it is. I live in North-East India btw.

Before going into a deeper discussion about the honey I want to talk about the honey being sold by branded private companies in India. You already know that their TOP priority is to make profit and often they will resort to whatever means necessary. There are also local honey in which sellers out of greed add candle wax. That’s how they are able to keep the prices lower than actual. I’ll just link an article by The Hindu with some quotes from the article.

10 out of 13 honey brands fail ‘purity test’, finds CSE investigation

“10 out of 13 honey brands fail ‘purity test’, finds CSE investigation”

It shows how the business of adulteration has evolved so that it can pass the stipulated tests in India…We found that sugar syrups are so designed that they can go undetected.”

The CSE investigation also said some Indian companies in the honey business were importing synthetic sugar syrups from China to adulterate honey.

Sunita Narain, Director General, CSE said, “We are consuming honey, more of it to fight the pandemic. But honey adulterated with sugar will not make us well.”

(For context, honey is said to boost immunity hence they are even more popular this year because of the covid pandemic).

These syrups, said Ms. Narain, were capable of passing off as honey, even up to half of which were mixed with sugar, as ‘pure honey’.

As part of the investigation, CSE traced a factory in Jaspur, Uttarakhand that manufactured a sugar syrup to adulterate honey – all pass honey, as the product is locally known – and found that when mixed with honey that CSE’s team sourced from apiaries, was able to pass Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) tests for honey purity.

Several of these syrups, said Ms. Narain, were advertised on portals like Alibaba, selling fructose syrup that could bypass regulatory tests. CSE also couldn’t say if the sugar syrup they had sourced from China was used in any of the Indian brands tested.

Those are the main differences between the honey being sold by corporate companies to make profits and villagers selling surplus to help support their family. The surplus is mostly provided to non-local mahajons with connections to manufacturers and they supply to them via Guwahati-Assam and Dimapur-Nagaland (since these two towns have railways).

Now let’s talk about the prices. From what I know local honey prices go up and down depending on the climate. Private companies are able to keep the prices virtually unchanged or raise a bit higher because of the foreign ingredients to keep costs down. I believe the price is lowest during summer/spring. I paid 1000rs for a litre of honey (bought it from a relative) over a year ago during the summer season when I went there. Also pure honey is very expensive when sold in exhibition. I’ve seen 500ml bottles being sold for 750 rs and not lower.
I honestly don’t know how much it will cost right now being winter and how much you guys will be willing to pay for it. I’m sharing with you guys because many of you live in the cities and I honestly don’t think that you will have access to cleaner and better food. Also supply will be limited. Bees don’t go producing honey every day.

For packing, I will use clean transparent plastic bottles with bubble wrap/sponge/styro whatever is available at value prices.

Shipping will be extra but I’m not sure how much. It will obviously depend on the weight and distance. I want to make it buyer’s preference so there is no complaint about shipping issues. You will receive an image of the shipping receipt.

I will of course be charging extra fees for my time and energy and material cost (for packing). I will need to travel to and fro at least once a week (in case you guys are interested) mainly due to the fact that communication by phone is virtually impossible. My role here is to act as the middleman (who will take orders and ship) and I don’t think that I will make any profit from this. The price is already high as it is. I might be open to voluntary donation.

Let me know what you guys think.

AMA!

[skoka123]

I would be interested to try at least 1 bottle to start with.

[iPwnz]

@skoka123

I would be interested to try at least 1 bottle to start with.

You can also take 500ml if there are multiple interested members as I want to be able to supply to as many members here possible. Else I’ll definitely reserve 1L for you. Let me know how much you are willing to pay for each.

[rdst_1]

This is a nice initiative. Can you please get the prices first. I will be starting something similar for Desi Ghee as soon as my dairy farm is up and running. I’ll probably keep a few boxes myself by next year but travelling with them in winter to plains is a bigger issue for me, so maybe I can buy from your source itself.

[iPwnz]

@rdst_1

This is a nice initiative. Can you please get the prices first.

Thanks for the interest. I paid 1k for 1L (after family discount) so it will be more than that. Expect no less than 750rs for 500ml.

@rdst_1

I will be starting something similar for Desi Ghee as soon as my dairy farm is up and running. I’ll probably keep a few boxes myself by next year but travelling with them in winter to plains is a bigger issue for me, so maybe I can buy from your source itself.

This is awesome. I wish I had my own dairy farm. Our milk here is seriously very adulterated. Its like milk is added to water and not water to milk lol. Its very watery. I’ve been looking for a local milk supplier for personal consumption but I haven’t been able to find any. Cow owners told me are contracted with packaged milk distributing companies so it will be impossible to get one for personal consumption. Apparently they make the most money only when they supply to the packaged milk companies. But its very frustrating.

[snowman_x86]

I would be interested in buying 1L (500ml x 2) on trial basis.

[ibose]

Count me in for 500ml x 2 as well

[LaatSahab]

Count me in, at least 1 liter.

[calvin1719]

I’d be interested.

[chiron]

Is it wild honey or honey from beekeepers without any additives?

[iPwnz]

Thanks for all the interest guys. I’ve sent word about it.

@chiron

Is it wild honey or honey from beekeepers without any additives?

They are almost the same thing. Wild honey filtered without any additives or preservatives. The process is the same.
Some of the honey are from reared bees. They are not really bee keepers as in people who live off of bee keeping. They are farmers/cultivators and bee keeping is just a side income for them. Their main income is farming.

[JMak]

I might also buy but need a figure from you for 500ml or a Litre shipped to Delhi
Thanks

[raksrules]

I may be interested in 500ml for trial and if all goes well, may be will order more.

[alekhkhanna]

In for 500ml or 1 litre depending on the price.

Also please do let me know if you can get flavored ones - not artificially flavored, but naturally flavored due to bees sucking nectar from a specific variety of flowers.

[iPwnz]

@alekhkhanna

Also please do let me know if you can get flavored ones - not artificially flavored, but naturally flavored due to bees sucking nectar from a specific variety of flowers.

This will be not be possible to know. I’ve never noticed it either. Must be because of the mixed flowers.

[thegr8anand]

@alekhkhanna

In for 500ml or 1 litre depending on the price.

Same for me.

[Fenix]

Is it going to be sourced from India or Abroad. I have tasted honey in Chamba - Himachal Pradesh and its the best I ever had. Produced by locals and gujjars.

[iPwnz]

@Fenix

Is it going to be sourced from India or Abroad. I have tasted honey in Chamba - Himachal Pradesh and its the best I ever had. Produced by locals and gujjars.

My state in Northeast India. Try Sikkim honey if you get the chance. I heard it’s also very good. I don’t know about the purity though. In general Sikkim is known for growing healthy food and clean city. With a lush green environment. But I’ve never been there myself. Sikkim is also the home state of former professional Indian footballer/Indian football team captain Bhaichung Bhutia.

[iPwnz]

Hey guys, I have an update and you may be disappointed. Very sorry in advance.
So I sent out word the other day and talked to a bunch of people about the honey and got some new info about the honey regarding their pricing and their availability.
A local canteen runner in my mother’s govt office gave me some shocking info. The first one, forget the pricing, wild honey is not even found in the market anymore and that they have tried hard to look for it. Secondly, he also said that they managed to find only one a few months ago and paid 2k for 1L. Yes a whopping 2000rs! For ONE litre. This is wild honey btw. I must say that I was lucky to get a bottle for 1k over a year ago. He said something like this “People don’t understand the medicinal value of wild honey. Of course they only buy those cheap branded ones but that’s only because they like honey as honey and not for anything else. This is why most don’t even care about the purity. We paid 2k for 1L and use it only when we have health issues. We use it mostly when we have stomach ache and ulcers (I’ve also used it like this and it does help. I forgot that it was wild honey. I thought any honey works). We would like to buy more since ours running out but we haven’t been able to find any. No one is selling it anymore and villagers say they don’t want to go deep into the jungle just to look for wild honey, that’s because its very rare. The ones you find in the market are mostly from reared ones by local bee keepers. They are not wild honey.”
I don’t know what you guys might think about what he said but I believe him because he is no bee keeper and don’t even deal in honey. He and his family run the office canteen.
And I really was lucky to get a bottle of wild honey back then. I had no idea it was that rare. I also contacted a friend whom I thought would know but instead I was asked to sell one to her also if I find any and she said she wants to use it for this purpose (lol). She’s a medical student btw.

@chiron

Is it wild honey or honey from beekeepers without any additives?

So I misunderstood this. You are right. My bad.
Wild honey **≠ **pure honey. All wild honey (without additives) are pure honey but not all pure honey are wild honey.
There is one good news, we contacted a veggie seller who is also a distant relative (but don’t live in my gramp’s village). She said the time for harvesting honey has passed and you may not find it anymore but there’s a cliff in her village and underneath it are two honeybee hives in different places. They haven’t had the time to harvest it. It was then my mom told her to keep all of them for us lol. Even if they don’t have the time to filter it, we’ll buy and we’ll filter it ourselves. They just need to take out the hives and send them to us. I’ve also filtered honey before. It takes time and lots of patience. The inside of the comb/hive can also be eaten. But you need to watch out for bee stings. Anyway this one is from another village and not the one where I’ll be going to. I plan to personally go there to witness the harvesting if I can. I’ll take photos and maybe videos too if I have enough storage.
So what I can make of these info are these:

1. Wild honey is expensive and very rare and I may not even find one from my gramps village.
2. There is also the pure honey from reared ones. Pure but reared and also rare though less rare than wild one.
3. I don’t know how much they will cost (I will find this out when I go and post back when I return).
4. I don’t know if any of you will still be interested after knowing the latest pricing info (2000rs for 1L of wild honey).
5. My mother called me an idiot for thinking wild honey costs only 1500 a litre and that I should’ve asked her first before making that post. :writing::wacky:
   I plan to go to one village (not my gramp’s nor the other one) which is not so far tomorrow to ask about the honey.

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[calvin1719]

Thanks for the detailed update. I’m still in for pure honey from reared bees, if you’re able to get it.