Sundarbans honey

The story

Every spring the mangroves of the Sundarbans flower, and wild giant honeybees build their big open combs on branches across the forest. The honey season opens on 1 April, when the Forest Department starts issuing permits, and runs until the end of June. The first flowers to bloom are khalisha, a small shrub with white, fragrant blossoms, and honey made mainly from its nectar is light in colour, delicate in taste and the most sought-after. Goran follows, giving a darker, stronger honey, and keora and other trees later in the season give honey of their own character; much of what is sold is a mix.

The honey is gathered by mawalis, men and some women from villages on the forest edge in Satkhira, Khulna and Bagerhat. Groups travel into the forest by boat for up to two weeks at a time, each boat carrying a Forest Department pass that limits how long they may stay and how much honey and wax they may take. They find hives by following the bees, drive them off with smoke from bundles of leaves, and cut the comb by hand. The work is dangerous: the Sundarbans is home to the Bengal tiger, and the forest department has recorded many deaths among honey and wood collectors over the years. Before entering the forest, mawalis pray to Bonbibi, the guardian of the forest.

India registered Sundarban honey as a Geographical Indication for West Bengal in January 2024, which caused an outcry in Bangladesh, where most of the forest lies. On 30 April 2025, the Department of Patents, Designs and Trademarks handed the Bagerhat deputy commissioner Bangladesh's own GI certificate for Sundarbans honey. The registration protects the name; it does not test or certify any particular jar.

How to spot the real Sundarbans honey

Much of the folk wisdom about spotting pure honey does not work. Ants are attracted to pure honey as much as to fake; a matchstick dipped in honey may or may not light depending on moisture, not purity; how a drop behaves in water or on paper mainly reflects how thick it is. Crystallisation is also natural: it depends on the flowers the bees visited, and real honey can turn grainy while sugar-syrup fakes can stay clear. Wild Sundarbans honey is often thinner than farmed honey because of the humid mangrove air, and it can ferment and froth slightly if stored warm; that is a storage issue, not proof of adulteration. What does help: buy within or soon after the April to June season; ask which flower and which month; expect variation in colour and taste between batches; be suspicious of a very low price or of large stocks of khalisha honey; and, for real certainty, look for a laboratory test report of moisture, sugars and pollen from a recognised lab. Honey from beehive boxes placed near the forest edge can be good honey, but it is not wild Sundarbans honey.

Buying tips

Ask the seller where and when the honey was collected, which flowers it comes mainly from, whether it is wild comb honey or box-hive honey, and whether they have a lab report. Ask whether the honey has been heated or filtered and what container it comes in; food-grade glass or a sealed food-grade bottle is best. A small first purchase lets you judge taste before buying more.

Every shop on Midmart sets its own delivery charge, so honey from one seller and ghee from another arrive as two separate deliveries. Midmart never takes payment or delivers: you agree payment and courier directly with the seller. No Midmart shop is certified by the GI and none is guaranteed genuine, so ask the questions above before you confirm.

Keeping it fresh

Keep honey in a tightly closed glass jar at room temperature, away from sunlight and stove heat, and always use a dry spoon so no water gets in. If it crystallises, stand the jar in warm, not boiling, water until it softens. If a thin, wild honey starts to froth, move it somewhere cooler; the fridge slows fermentation, though it may thicken the honey.

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