Wild Honey of Nepal

Wild Honey..Indigenous food  of the  Himalayan region of Nepal

Indigenous Method of wild Honey Processing

Honey is naturally sweet,viscous liquid made from the nectar of flowers and collected by honey bees. It Comes. Honey is the most important primary product of beekeeping quantities, from both a quantitative and an economic aspect.

Wild Honey is an indigenous food  of the Higher Himalayan region of Nepal including High Himalayas and High Mountain.Wild Honey is Produced by Nepalese native wild honey bee viz. A. dorsata, A.dorsata, A. florae and A. cerena.

Researchers have shown that, Himalayan Honey has high free radical scavenging  activity, free radicals that are highly

reactive molecules can be extremely damaging to the lipids, proteins and cellular DNA  which  may  lead  to  many  biological  complications, including  carcinogenesis,  mutagenesis,  aging,  and  atherosclerosis.

 Potassium, magnesium, sodium, calcium, phosphorus, iron, manganese, cobalt, copper and some other elements have been identified in honey by spectral analysis.

Himalayan Honey of Nepal is one of important indigenous food commodity which is enlisted by  Nepal Trade Integration Strategy (NTIS) under  19 export products which provide competitive advantage to Nepali firms and industries  over other countries in the global market. Nepal Government has prioritized honey as a high value commodity. It is also assisting entrepreneurs  on  promoting  Nepalese  honey  in  different  markets.  Nepalese  honey  is

famous  for  its  unique  taste  and  it  has  been  already exported  to  different  countries.  The major  consumers  of  Nepalese  honey  are  Germany,  Japan,  Malaysia,  Russia,  Taiwan, Korea, USA and India.

Field trip at Siklesh VDC of Kaski 

I have got chance to participate in  the field trip of  faculty research on “Comparative Study of Antioxidant Capacity of Two Kinds of Honey: Himalayan and Domestic”, of  Pokhara University. During the course of our field trip at Sikles VDC of Kaski, I have been observing that the  main Problem was due the Conventional method of Honey Harvesting and Processing Procedure.

The unique flavour of Himalayan  honey and its naturally organic quality were identified as a competitive advantage to the product. Despite this potential, Nepali firms have not been able to export quality honey to the international market and take maximum benefit out of it.

According to  the recent research by the LiBIRD, Eco-tourism with indigenous honey hunting communities can maintain traditional knowledge and practices and enhance livelihoods. This will provide a basis for promoting community based eco-tourism industry in Nepal. Tourism who come to Nepal in group paying $250-$1500 to experience one honey hunting event, If done in ecofriendly way, such a component of eco-tourism could provide a route out poverty, with  tourist being charge to view and take part in honey hunting.


Ashim Sigdel is a Research Scholar on Food Science and Technology at Tribhuvan University,Pokhara Bigyan Tatha Prabidhi Campus, Pokhara