Mad honey is not produced in controlled environments. It is harvested by skilled communities in remote, high-altitude regions where specific Rhododendron species grow alongside the wild bee colonies that forage on them.
For most harvesting families, cliff honey is one part of a broader subsistence economy that includes farming, livestock, and seasonal labour. The honey itself holds cultural significance beyond its market value — it is tied to identity, landscape, and generational continuity.
IMHSI works to understand and support these communities, ensuring that the standards we develop protect both the product's integrity and the livelihoods of the people who produce it.
The Gurung people of Nepal’s central highlands have practised cliff-face honey hunting for generations, using hand-made bamboo ladders suspended from cliff faces. They harvest from wild Apis dorsata laboriosa colonies twice a year. The spring harvest, when Rhododendron arboreum is in bloom, produces the most potent honey.
In the Rize and Artvin provinces of northeastern Turkey, smallholder beekeepers maintain hives in high-altitude Rhododendron ponticum meadows. Families often manage between 20 and 100 hives, producing small-batch deli bal sold primarily at local markets and increasingly to international buyers.
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