It’s not the typical kind of sweet honey you’re used to tasting in tea or eating with toast or fruit. It’s actually quite the opposite and can have dangerous effects if used excessively. And if you look throughout history, it had fatal consequences for some armies who were tricked into taking it.
Mad honey, found in rhododendron flowers, isn’t so sweet in how it tastes. However, like marijuana, it can be a way to make you feel “sweet” in the head, being used by some as a way to get high or even perform better in the bedroom. It doesn’t come without its negative side effects, however, as it can cause severe problems, such as hallucinations, vomiting, impaired consciousness, blurred vision, seizures, and even paralysis.
This red type of honey, initially found in Turkey and Nepal, comes from the giant Himalayan honey bee. Expensive and dangerous, it has played a significant role in how it’s been used throughout history.
What is Mad Honey?
Mad honey, also referred to as hallucinogenic honey, is produced when bees “feed on the pollen of rhododendron flowers.” Unlike regular honey, it has more of a reddish color and a bitter taste.
Mad honey originated in Eastern Turkey’s Black Sea region, a popular place for bees to pollinate rhododendron flowers. Some of the types of rhododendrons in the honey contain grayanotoxin, which can create a severe physiological reaction in humans and animals. Grayanotoxins can cause a gradual drop in blood pressure and heart rate, and if too much of it is consumed, it can be fatal.
Doctors warn of its dangers, citing that it can cause anywhere from light-headedness, slower heartbeats, and hallucinations to paralysis and loss of consciousness. Turkey and Nepal are the only places in the world known to grow large quantities of rhododendron flowers and grayanotoxin to where mad honey can have this kind of powerful effect.
Famous Uses in History
Most people don’t realize it, but mad honey has been around for tens of thousands of years, going back to ancient times.
One of the first accounts of mad honey in historical reports came from Xenophon of Athens, a student of Socrates and a Greek historian, soldier, and mercenary. In 401 B.C., Xenophon wrote that in 401 B.C, a Greek army he was leading returned to Greece along the shores of the Black Sea after defeating the Persians.
“Near Trabzon (in Northeastern Turkey), they (Xenophon’s army) decided to feast on local honey stolen from some nearby beehives,” Anthology expert and Texas A&M professor Vaughn Bryant explained. “Hours later the troops began vomiting, had diarrhea, became disoriented, and could no longer stand; by the next day the effects were gone and they continued on to Greece.”
There was another incident in 67 B.C. when the Romans, led by Pompey the Great, were chasing the Persian army near the Black Sea, where much of this honey came about. The Persians, knowing the effects of mad honey, left pots of them all around on purpose for the Roman army to find.
They ate the honey, became disoriented, and couldn’t fight,” Bryant said. “The Persian army returned and killed over 1,000 Roman troops with few losses of their own.”
In 946 AD, the Empress Olga of Kiev and her allies tricked 5,000 Russian men into drinking a type of liquor with mad honey mixed into it. Once they fell into a trance, the Kieven troops killed the 5,000 delirious men and gained the upper hand in the war.
In 1489, Ivan the Great and his troops took a page out of Empress Olga’s book and pulled a similar trick on Tatar troops. They left behind containers of mead with mad honey in it for the enemy troops to digest. After the men began hallucinating, Ivan’s troops came in and slaughtered their enemies.
Between the 16th and 18th centuries, it was popular in Europe and beyond. Europeans used to mix it in their alcohold to give it extra effect and make them get a buzz even faster. The French used to call it “miel fou,” which means “crazy honey.”
In the 18th century, New Jersey went through a stretch where they used grayanotoxins to produce a toxic honey to make you feel light-headed. However, it wasn’t as powerful, as the grayanotoxins came from mountain laurel, not rhododendrons.
The Uses of Mad Honey Today
Because of its ability to create euphoria and hallucinations, people use it as a way to get high. Some also use it for sexual purposes as a replacement for Viagra, as it is supposed to increase sexual performance. According to the Royal Society of Chemistry, “mad honey is mostly used by middle-aged men for enhancing their sexual performance.”
As a result, it is the most expensive honey in the world, costing $166 per pound, according to the Texas A&M Research Center. It has also been used for medicinal purposes. Some prescribe it to relieve hypertension or provide someone with energy bursts if going through periods of exhaustion and struggle.
All that said, it’s not well known throughout most of the world, and because of its expensive price and potential dangerous side effects and history, is not something that’s sought after.
