Honey bees
Scientific name: Apis
A honey bee is a eusocial (social insects) flying insect within the genus Apis of the bee clade, all native to Asia & Europe but spread to four other continents by human beings.
Honey Bees are the special creatures on the planet which plays an important role in agricultural crops. It is proven that during the collection of nectar from flowers the cross-pollination by honey bees fetches about a 30-80% increase in agricultural productivity.
Honey as a nutritious item for human consumption since ancient times and used in a large number of ayurvedic medicines as drug vehicles. Because of it’s natural, quality, fragrance and known mode of action in the human body, honey is added for the formulation of different food products.
Let’s quickly overview the honey hunting culture.
Honey hunting is a way of quickly obtaining high carbohydrate (honey) and high protein (pollen and bee larvae) foods with no financial cost. When a buyer is available, honey hunting is often seen by very poor people as a quick way to raise cash.
As part of the negative aspects honey hunting culture kills bees and in some areas represents a non-sustainable depletion of honeybee colonies and habitat which could lead to cause forest fires as well.
Facts and benefits of raw honey:
Honey which is harvested from the high altitude and high tropical region has many more benefits as compared with honey harvested for commercial purposes. Harvesting a super Natural raw honey is not an easy task for any honey suppliers/company.
To maintain high nutritious honey quality beehives and bees must be mile far away from any chemical reach. It is only possible if your bee farming is located in the super remote location, at the same time surrounding should be rich in floral vegetation.
Apis mellifera and Apis cerana are the only honey-producing bees found in Nepal. Most famous apis cerana lives in Nepal at an altitude of 100 to 3500 meters and produces honey two times a year. The first time is during the summer (March to May) and the second time during the winter (November to December).
Uses of Pure raw honey (Karthike honey in Nepali) from Apis cerena:
1.) Rich source of antioxidants:
High-quality raw honey contains antioxidants that have been linked to reducing risk of heart attacks, strokes, and cancers in the human body.
Pure raw honey can lower triglycerides, elevated blood triglycerides are another risk factor for heart disease.
2.) Helpful for blood pressure and diabetics patients:
It may lower bad LDL cholesterol, triglycerides and inflammation while raising good HDL cholesterol.
Studies in humans have shown modest reductions in blood pressure from consuming honey.
3.) Honey promotes burn and wound in human skin:
Ayurvedic studies on honey and wound care found honey most effective at healing partial-thickness burns and wounds that have become infected after surgery.
4.) As an ingredient in drugs:
For hay fever; in cough syrup; as a sweetening agent in drugs, especially for children raw honey is being used.
5.) For cosmetics purpose:
As a facial cleanser and an ingredient in hand lotion.
6.) For animal feeding:
Dairy cows (to increase milk production).7.) It’s Delicious, But Still High in Calories and Sugar.
Apart from these fine art bees as honey, maestro bees itself could be very beneficial in the development of human immunity. According to “Bee stings – Medical aspects of beekeeping (Riches, 2001)”. When a bee stings and venom enters the body, antibodies, known as immunoglobulins are formed. Immunoglobulin G (lgG) is formed in response to bacterial and other foreign substance invasions: it circulates in the blood and is of great benefit in the development of immunity.
To Settle it down, obtaining a raw honey crop is easier and more convenient than honey hunting if bees are encouraged to nest inside a man-made hive. The hive makes ownership of the colony very clear and harvesting the honey is easier. You can buy raw honey in Nepal from organic shop Nepal which sells pure raw honey from their own bee farm.
