The National Highland Research and Development Centre (NHRDC) say there is no adulteration with local honey of Bumthang. According to the Centre, the crystallisation or hardening of local honey of Bumthang during winter is natural and not due to added sugar as speculated by some consumers. The office says people are hesitant to buy Bumthang honey especially during winter due to such misconception of adulteration.
Most honey produced and bottled in Bumthang hardens and forms a white layer of crystals during winter. The NHRDC, which looks after the National Apiculture Programme, says crystallisation is a natural trait of pure honey.
The centre also says most consumers prefer imported honey which remains in liquid form in all seasons without knowing that such honeys usually don’t have all nutritional contents.
According to Dr Vijay Raika, the Programme Director of the National Highland Research and Development Centre, pure honey normally crystallises when the temperature goes down.
“Usually the liquid form, which we see as in the imported honey, undergo a heating process called the pasteurisation process which is done in mass production system like in India and other countries. And then also it is likely that some of the nutrients might be lowered because of the heating process and in Bhutan as you all know, we don’t carry out the heating process.”
The centre also said some people question the purity of honey from Bumthang as bees are fed sugar during winter. The office says sugar has to be fed during winter to keep the bees alive and protect them from pests and diseases.
“Most of the people in Bhutan have the perception that the honey that is being produced through the feeding of sugars containing lots of artificial sugar which is totally wrong,” said Dr Raika.
“In fact, scientifically bees will never convert sugar into honey and the sugar that is fed is as a supplementary feed for them to survive when they hibernate in winter season,” he added.
An employee of the centre demonstrated to BBS how artificial sugars fed during winter months do not get deposited into the honey comb.
“Artificial feeding is done only when there is no nectar source at all during lean hibernating season. Whereas by March and April, the nectar collected from flowers is totally deposited in the super frames and that is what is being extracted for consumption,” said Sonam Choki, a Livestock Production Supervisor at the NHRDC.
At the Beekeepers Cooperative of Bhutan, which is the oldest beekeeper’s cooperative in the country, most bottled honey can be seen crystallised as well.
The chairman of the cooperative said although some people think the crystals are formed due to artificial sugar, the business hasn’t been impacted to a great extent by such misconceptions. The cooperative also has measures to ensure honey purity.
“We accept only if people bring the honey super here for harvesting. We do not accept already extracted honey here because we can never know if it’s pure or not,” said Sonam Tashi, the Chairperson of the Beekeepers Cooperative of Bhutan.
“Moreover, from this year we have decided to conduct regular testing of honey samples collected from our members after every two to three months.”
Meanwhile, tests conducted on Bumthang honey by BAFRA in October last year showed normal acidic and moisture contents. In addition, the NHRDC has sent several honey samples to Nepal with the help of ICIMOD to check if there is added artificial sugar in them.
Kipchu, Bumthang
Edited by Yeshi Gyaltshen
