Raw Jungle Honey, Oaxaca, Mexico (Bidoo Collective)

I bought this raw Jungle honey from Follow The Honey, a honey specialty store in Cambridge, MA. This honey is from the jungles of Oaxaca, Mexico, and is the result of efforts of the BIDOO Collective, an organization that provides incentives to rural farmers and beekeepers to conserve natural habitats.

Oaxaca state, Mexico

Oaxaca (pronounced waˈhaka), a state in Mexico comprised of seven regions, is located in the south of Mexico. As a state it was established in 1824 and currently has a population of about 4 million. Its capital is Oaxaca City and it is home to a third of Mexico’s indigenous people who are from a number of different indigenous groups, with the Zapotecs and Mixtecs accounting for about 50%. 

It is an area rich in history, with evidence of human habitation dating back to 11,000 BC. The ancient city of Monte Alban (which flourished from 500 BC to 750 AD) and the religious center of Mitla, classified in 2010 as a UNESCO world heritage site, are both found in Oaxaca. 

Oaxaca mountains

Oaxaca has one of the most rugged terrains in Mexico with several mountain chains (Sierra Madre del Sur, Sierra Madre de Oaxaca and Sierra Atravesada) converging on each other, creating a series of narrow and not-so-narrow valleys between them. Many people live in isolated communities as a result. 

Climate varies with altitude. While it is within the tropical latitudes regions range from being hot and humid  to being temperate. It is thought to have the greatest bio-diversity in Mexico, with >8,000 species of flora and >4,500 species of fauna.

Its economy is based primarily on agriculture, even though only 9% of the land is suitable due to its mountainous terrain, mining and tourism. Principal crops include grains, cocoa, peanuts, mango, corn, sugar cane, coffee, sesame seed, and pineapple. 

Oaxaca rainforest

Beekeeping has been practiced in Mexico for thousands of years-and in Oaxaca for just as long. The ancient Mayans harvested wild honey from log nests and, later, wooden hives were used to collect it. It is used as a sweetener, an antibiotic and to make a fermented drink, “balche,” similar to mead. In fact, a surviving Maya book, The Madrid Codex, is all about bees and beekeeping, showing how important beekeeping was. Up until about 50 years ago, the stingless melliponine bee (Apidae melliponinae) a native of the tropical forests of the Yucatan peninsula was the major honey maker. However when Africanized bees were introduced they soon took over and honey production is now principally from these bees. 

The jungles of Oaxaca are rich in floral diversity, including floral sources from mango, lime, lemon, avocado, coffee, sesame, almond, orchid, and wild fennel, to name a few. These are reflected in the region’s honey. If you are interested in the the floral diversity of Oaxaca honey, Ramirez-Arriga et al., have made a study of it using pollen analysis to identify the sources of Oaxaca honey.

Raw Jungle honey, Oaxaca, Mexico

My honey, which is organic and free of any pesticides or antibiotics, is a mellow, brown/mustard opaque color. It has crystallized a bit since I got it and is on the thick side. The crystals give it an very interesting texture, more like a puree than a crunchy or grainy texture. The taste is really unusual. Sweet potato, pineapple and cooked plums come through, with a slightly minty menthol aftertaste. It also have a bit of a final kick with a clove flavor. This honey is too unusual and interesting to bake with. It might be best eaten it right out of the jar, with a mild, creamy cheese, or on thick, plain yogurt. If you have no plans to visit Oaxaca anytime soon, but want a taste of this, Follow the Honey sells it online.

Daniolo Strawberry Tree Organic Honey, Greece

Daniolo is a brand of a Greek company (Capacious Ltd) that operates out of Cyprus and specializes in working with small farmers (and apiarists) to bring to market products from the Greek Mediterranean basin. The company was founded by Constantine Daniolos and has a diverse product line that includes Kalamata olives, olive oil, olive oil soap, oregano, and honey (strawberry tree, wild thyme, vanilla fir and chestnut). All products are certified organic.

The Strawberry Tree showing flowers and fruit

I have their Strawberry Tree honey (although the label on my honey states “Strawberry raw honey organic” I think it is, in fact, Strawberry Tree honey, since the company makes the latter and not the former). I wasn’t familiar with what a Strawberry Tree was and had to look it up. According to wiki, Strawberry Tree is an evergreen shrub or small tree (Arbutus unedo) in the Etricaceae family (also known as the heath or heather family and includes cranberries, blueberries, huckleberries, azalea, rhododendron and common heaths and heathers). It is native to Western Europe, Ireland and the Mediterranean region, and happiest in warm, dry climates. “What on earth is it doing in Ireland?” you may ask. Strangely, it also grows well in the cool, wet summers of western Ireland, and in temperate regions. 

The fruit (berries) of the Strawberry Tree

Of interest, in Ireland it is known as the “Killarney Strawberry tree.” Its presence in Ireland (notably in Killarney and around Lough Gill in County Sligo) is apparently a remnant of its being there during the Atlantic period (circa 8000 BC to circa 3100 BC) when the climate was much warmer than today. Presumably it adapted to the climate as it changed. 

The shrub generally produces white, bell shaped flowers in a cluster that resemble snow bells. The fruit, however, is a red berry with a rough surface, and although edible, is not terribly flavorful in its raw form. The fruit take a year to mature so one often finds ripe fruit and flowers on the same shrub. The fruits are used to make jams and liqueurs (e.g. the Portuguese medronho, a type of brandy), but the plant is mostly cultivated as an ornamental shrub.

The Strawberry Tree has gotten its share of notice in the arts. It has been figured in paintings (e.g. The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch), is on the coat of arms of the city of Madrid, and is mentioned by Ovid in Metamorphose.

Madrid Coat of Arms with a bear eating Strawberry Tree fruit

The honey that is produced from the Strawberry Tree is reportedly bitter. In fact, Pliny the elder (AD 23- AD 79) wrote that it should not be planted where bees are kept because of the bitterness it would impart to honey. For some, however, the unusual flavor, sometimes also described as having an aroma hinting of roasted coffee beans, it thought to make for a tasty combination with pungent cheeses or cured meats. 

Daniolo Strawberry (Tree) Raw Honey Organic

The honey is a mellow caramel color with lots of particulate matter (a good sign that it hasn’t been overly filtered). It has a slightly pungent smell, subtly smoky with a faint licorice aroma. It is a fairly thick honey, and quite clear in small quantities. It rolls around on first taste and is not overly flavorful, but then gradually an aromatic flavor emerges. It has a (soft) bitter undertone that lingers, but there is also a hint of menthol and licorice that grows in prominence. It is an altogether unusual and very pleasant honey! I didn’t taste the coffee that some have mentioned and, while I did taste some bitterness, it was very mild. Given the delicate flavor I would not recommend using this honey in baking or with other strong flavors that would drown it out (i.e. in a strong black tea), but it would be very nice on buttered toast, with interesting cheeses, or straight out of the jar.

Mandarin Italian Honey (Rigoni diAsiago), Calabria, Italy

Barbara, a friend of mine, gave me this honey, which is produced and distributed by Rigoni diAsiago, a family business run by the Rigoni family of Altopiano diAsiago, Italy.

Altopiano diAsiago, Italy

From the Rigoni diAsiago website, the business began over a hundred years ago with Nonna Elisa who, being widowed with nine children, began a beekeeping business with her two eldest sons after WWI. The business was successful and grew, and is still managed by Nonna Elisa's descendents. They have been innovators and trailblazers in the industry; they introduced monofloral honey in 1979 and went organic in the 1990s. To expand their product range, they added organic jams and hazelnut spreads. In addition they have expanded their markets to include the US, a variety of European countries, and recently, Japan. 

The business has come a long way since Nonna Elisa's time. The company owns large organic farm operations in Italy and Bulgaria, and employs 2,000 season fruit-pickers and 200 full timers. But the mission has not changed much: to provide products that are naturally flavorful and retain as much of the original nutritional properties as possible. To this end, they have gone high tech, with laboratories on site that run quality checks at each stage of production. For honey, this means verifying the pollen source of the monofloral honey as well as other aspects of its make up. They are also environmentally aware, using solar energy in their production plants and minimizing water usage by recycling steam.

Calabria, Italy

Rigoni diAsiago produce a range of organic Italian honey including wildflower, acacia, orange blossom, lime, pine, mandarin, chestnut, and forest. Not only is their honey certified organic, but it is also raw, meaning that it is cold pressed rather than heated. This process results in the honey retaining a superior flavor as well as many vitamins, minerals, etc. that are lost if heated.

The most recent addition to their honey line is  Mandarin honey. It is harvested in Calabria, a region in southern Italy (i.e.the toe of Italy). Most of the area is mountainous or hilly, but farmers in Calabria have been growing crops along the lower slopes for centuries. Most notable among these crops are olives, grapes and citrus fruit.

One travel site referred to Calabria as the Caribbean of Europe, complete with stunning beaches, impressive landscapes and an abundance of charm and history. It you are looking for hillside towns, ancient Greek temples and Byzantine churches in a pastoral setting, look no further!

Calabria Citrus

The mandarin orchards that produce this honey are grown on plantations using organic growing methods. Twenty-six bee colonies collect the honey in two thousand hives scattered throughout the orchards, and the honey is harvested from April until May.

The honey is thick. It rolls onto a toothpick in cloudy, sateen sheets of milky yellow, not unlike pulled taffy. It is an incredibly smooth and creamy with only a burst of sweetness at the end. I was expecting the bitterness of citrus that I have tasted in lime honey, but it isn't there. Instead there is a subtle orange blossom perfume, but it is very delicate and fleeting. Given the opaque quality of the honey, I also expected a texture of fine crystals, but it isn't there either. It is as smooth as silk. It lingers momentarily, and then quickly melts.

mandarin honey

This honey is a fine quality honey that could be used in tea, on toast or hot cereal, or in baking. It has an unusual thickness and delicate flavor, however, so might be best eaten straight out of the jar so as to maximize the appreciation of its uniqueness.

 You can buy this honey online or find it in the US at Whole Foods Supermarkets.