Honey, a popular product

Wild bee honeycomb on a banana tree in Thailand

Honey as a natural sweetener is as old as mankind. Well known is the “love story” in the bible of Samson and Delilah. Samson falls in love with a Philistine woman Delilah. He gives a riddle about honey at his wedding to the Philistine guests. (Enemies of the people of Israel) If they can solve it, Samson will have to pay them. Delilah wrests from him the solution to all the problems afterwards. A wonderful history, which was interpreted by Tom Jones in 1968 in a top hit Delilah.

In the past, Thai honey collectors went out into nature. They were allowed to carry a weapon, often a machete, to protect themselves against game. With a long stick with smoking leaves at the end, the bees were stunned, so that the collectors could cut many honeycombs and put them in a basket. The lower the moisture content in the honey, the longer it can be stored. In addition, the honey is thicker.

The honey can be different in taste. Depending on the flowers and florals where the bee gets its nutrients from. But the type of bee also determines the taste of the honey. There are thousands of bee species worldwide, of which only a handful of bees are of commercial interest to honey collectors.

To find a bee nest, the collectors catch a few bees and feed them with a sugar solution or honey. Then the bees are released. As soon as the bees return, humans try to determine the direction of flight. Slowly but surely the location of the bee nests is located. Often at a higher altitude near rock walls, temple roofs and mango trees.

Honey collectors can be found all over Thailand. Well-known is the Khao Yai nature park, the largest nature park in the province of Nakhon Ratchasima and in the high plains of northern Thailand.

A lot of honey also comes from China. However, with honey, the phenomenon of “money laundering” is also known. Batches of cheap honey from China are marketed via other countries with a different label and customs documents. In addition, China has been blacklisted for a number of years because chloramphenicol was used and is carcinogenic. Both the EU and the US closely monitor imports for this.

Another problem that does occur is that maltose is added to the honey. Sugar from rice or corn. Some street vendors from Thailand are guilty of this.

Honey prices are still rising. Due to Chinese imports, lower honey prices can be found, but if you opt for quality, that has its price. People often opt for light-colored honey.

What people don't immediately think of when thinking about honey is that people from Thailand are not allowed to take more than two kilos of honey to Europe free of import duties.

Source: der Farang