Meliponiculture

Definition

Practised by the Maya for at least two thousand years in hollow log hives called jobones, and independently in Australia and southeast Asia. Colonies are perennial and cannot be split at will — reproduction is by slow budding, with workers provisioning a new site over weeks before a virgin queen relocates. Honey is stored in resin pots that can be opened individually, so harvest does not destroy the nest. Yields are one to two litres a year against twenty to sixty kilograms from a honey bee colony.

Where the word gets used loosely

Stingless bee honey does not meet the legal definition of honey in most jurisdictions because its moisture content exceeds the Codex limit. That is a regulatory problem for producers rather than a quality judgement — the honey is thinner and tarter by nature.

Honey records that discuss this

• Jataí honeySharply acidic and fruity with a fermented tang — closer to a sharp fruit syrup than to what most people expect honey to taste like.
• Melipona honeyTart, complex and only moderately sweet — a distinct acidic tang over a floral base, closer to a fermented fruit drink than to honey bee honey.
• Kelulut honeyDistinctly sour and tangy with a fruity, almost fermented character — closer to a sharp fruit syrup than to what most people expect honey to taste like.
• Rambutan honeySoft, floral and faintly muscat — closer to lychee honey than to anything temperate, and gentler than most tropical honeys.
• Xtabentún honeyPale, aromatic and faintly aniseed, with a clean floral lift. The liqueur made from it leans directly on that anise note.
• Uruçu honeyFluid, sharply acidic and floral — closer to a fruit syrup than to honey as most people know it, and the acidity is normal rather than spoilage.
• Mandaçaia honeySofter and rounder than the northeastern stingless honeys — still acidic, but with more caramel behind it and less citrus sharpness.
• Scaptotrigona honeySharp, resinous and distinctly woody, with a fermented-fruit edge. Among the more challenging stingless honeys and one of the most prized within its region.

Bee records that discuss this

• Melipona beesThe large stingless bees of the American tropics, and the ones worth keeping for honey. Melipona are honey bee sized or bigger, build substantial colonies, and store enough surplus that a hive can be harvested annually without ruining it — which is why every major indigenous beekeeping tradition in the Americas is built on this genus rather than on the smaller meliponines around it.
• UruçuThe large stingless bee of northeastern Brazil's Atlantic forest, and the species most Brazilian meliponiculture in the region is built around. Colonies are strong by meliponine standards, which is what makes commercial production possible at all.
• JandaíraThe stingless bee of the Brazilian caatinga, adapted to a semi-arid thorn forest where the flowering follows the rains and the dry season can last most of a year. Smaller than uruçu, and the species most caatinga meliponiculture is built on.

Guide records that discuss this

• Meliponiculture: keeping stingless beesThe oldest managed beekeeping in the Americas, and a practice that is expanding fast in Southeast Asia. It looks almost nothing like keeping honey bees.