Deli bal, a potentially dangerous delicacy that sells at a premium price, is harvested in just two places around the world -- the Black Sea region in Turkey and Nepal's Hindu Kush Himalayan mountain range.
Used as a folk medicine, a spoonful of it on a daily basis lowers blood pressure and is also used as a sexual stimulant, CNN reported. Deli means 'mad' or 'crazy' and bal stands for 'honey'. The nectar contains grayanotoxin, a naturally occurring toxin. The amount that makes it into honey depends from season to season and the flowers the bees have been feasting on.
“In our untouched forests, the purple rhododendron blooms in spring,” said Hasan Kutluata, a beekeeper in Turkey.
The bees collect nectar from these flowers and that's how they get the 'mad honey', he added.
With the help of a knife, Kutluata first carefully extracts a comb from the hive -- sticky elixir, which drops thick and sweet being gathered in a bucket.
Being dark amber red, deli bal's scent is sharp. While consuming it, one gets to taste the herbal bitterness underlying the sweetness of the honey, while a burning heat hits the back of the throat.
Apart from its various benefits, deli bal has its negative aspects as well. “We shouldn't eat too much. If we eat more, it might affect us,” Kutluata said.
He added that though there is no "hallucination involved", it can cause dizziness, low blood pressure, slight fever, nausea, and difficulty in walking.
Kutluata warned people against consuming more than a tablespoon of it. “Too much of anything is harmful. And too much honey is harmful as well," he noted.
It is legal to sell deli bal in Turkey and several other countries worldwide, but the US Food and Drug Administration refused to recommend its consumption.
An FDA spokesperson told CNN that people should check the labeling of honey to make sure that it is not labelled as ‘mad honey' or marketed for intoxicating qualities.
"Eating honey with a high amount of this toxin can lead to ‘mad honey' poisoning, with symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, or dizziness. This type of poisoning is rare," the official added.
