Winter Honey From Himachal Pradesh

I like good natural honey a LOT.

Unfortunately, all retail honey—even the ones that say “organic” or whatever—are near crap. There’s always lots of jaggery or sugar, or it’s heated in processing, or watered down. Nothing comes close to the real thing.

I’m currently wandering around Himachal Pradesh. I went up some mountain (near Shegli, Badgran, Kullu) and found a guy who keeps honey bees. I was thrilled to taste and buy the best honey I’ve had in many, many years—pure, unfiltered, unprocessed. This is the kind I used to have in my childhood at my Nana’s house (maternal grandfather). Direct from the source—the only processing was passing it through a small tea strainer, nothing else.

It was very expensive compared to retail: 1200 Rs per kg (with some honeycombs, so practically 1500). Retail honey is 300–400, and “organic” is 600. Totally worth it, in my opinion.

I’m no expert in honey and don’t know all the intricacies, but the beekeeper told me something interesting: In the Himalayas, there is a winter honey that is opened in Feb/March, from bees accumulating honey through autumn and winter. Since there aren’t a lot of flowers in winter, bees make honey from wild plants and herbs. It’s very healthy, has medicinal properties, is used in Ayurvedic medicine, and is a rare find—hence, expensive.

Then there’s summer honey, which comes from flowering plants. This is more commonly available and cheaper, usually harvested in June/July. He had one bottle of this, which he was willing to sell for 800.

I tasted both, absolutely loved the winter one, and took it. The color of this honey is very close to what I used to have at my Nana’s place—a good, dark brown. The taste was robust (strong and full, not mild or watery), malty (a deep, sweet flavor like caramel), earthy, and herbal. A guy used to come to my Nana’s place with honeycombs in a bucket. My Nana would ask him to extract the honey in front of him before buying. It was the best.

I was very happy with the current one, and it triggered some happy memories :)