Keepers of the Honey

I sat down with Ing. Victoria today and went through each of the main projects that OEPF Zona Maya is working on, trying to figure out how I can help. Among these is their brand of Honey, Yumil Kaab, which translates roughly from Mayan to "Keepers of the Honey." Produced by several beekeepers spread out across the ejidos, the nectar that the bees collect comes mostly from the flowers of the forest. Because of its forest origin, the honey combines the consistency and color of maple syrup with a rich, honey deliciousness. They gave me a sample to take home, and I must confess I ate a couple of capfulls straight.

The really exciting part, besides the taste and the story behind it, is that the Zona Maya is one of the few places where a beekeeper can legitimately claim organic produccion. Because it is very difficult (read: impossible) to control the range from which your bees collect nectar to make honey, its very difficult to prove that your honey is truly organic. You have to prove that no one in the potential range of your bees is using pesticides, among other banned substances.

Each ejido in the Zona Maya has huge tracts of land (8,000 has; 15,000 has) and nobody in the ejidos uses pesticides or other chemicals, simply because they can't afford them. So although they're not certified yet, they could be once their honey sales make it worthwhile.

I'm thinking about importing a box of this stuff and seeing how it does in the US. What do you think?

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*Images come from OEPFs website, linked to above.