Honey as hard as stone is not strange

Recently, there was information that a physician in Lao Cai, while looking for medicine in the forest of Simacai region, discovered that the honey has natural dryness and hardness like stone, big honey cakes, so it should be The fern grows, in addition, the bee releases dry bile. Many readers want to know if the bee is a new species? Why is the honey hard like stone, how much is the healing value?

The phenomenon of petrified honey is a rare phenomenon but can be easily explained.Because bees for hard bile, such as rock, are stone bees , one of the 6 bees for honey in Vietnam. The stone bee species (scientific name Apis laboriosa) is the species with the largest body size in the honey bee, the body is black and the white stripe in the abdomen. They also only build a nest cake under the cliffs with a height of 1,200m above sea level, so it can be up to 2,500 - 3,000m.

This is the bee with the largest nest, the army of winter should keep the most honey, usually from 40 - 60kg honey / cake. Around the world, stone bees are found in countries around the Himalayas such as Nepal, India, Butane, Yunnan Province, China.

Picture 1 of Honey as hard as stone is not strange
Is it as hard as stone honey?VTC photos

In Vietnam, bee stone was discovered for the first time by officials of the Bee Research and Development Center in Moc Chau district, Son La province in 1996. Stone bees are highly endangered bees, previously seen. On a cliff there are 7 - 10 honeycomb, but at present these cliffs only see one nest even without any nest.

About the press release, the hunter observed a strange phenomenon: He gave birth to the bile so that the dried honey was not accurate. Because to process the nectar into honey it takes 7 - 10 days for bees to remove water. According to the principle, the ratio of water in nectar is about 70 - 80% but in honey only 20%, at the same time bees add enzymes to transform sucrose (double sugar is the main sugar in nectar) into sugar. single is glucose and fructoz. On the other hand, the beehive usually works on the cliff 30 - 40m high, so the observer cannot see how small the bees are secreted and cannot distinguish between dry or wet bile.

Currently, in some countries around the world, such as Nepal and India, there is also the phenomenon of such petrification. A Malaysian company in Kualalumper is promoting the sale of rock-hardened honey from Alibaba.com for $ 20-30 / kg.

Dr. Phung Huu Chinh (Former Director of the Bee Research and Development Center, Project Coordinator " Preserves and sustainably exploits Apis laboriosa Smith stone bees in Northwestern provinces of Vietnam ".