As a beekeeper and a Board member of the American Apitherapy Society I have never encountered mad honey. I have been involved in a discussion about it and ready about it.
Mad honey is not produced in the United States. It is a real honey and can land you in a hospital with dizziness, tingling and altered state of mind. Thank goodness it is not found in the USA. It is produced is areas of the world where mountain laurel, rhododendron and azelas grow. This is found int he Himalayan cliffs. The above species contain a toxin called grayanotoxin, of which so called andromedatoxins are a sub group. Symptoms of grayanotoxins poisoning include nausea, severe sweating, vomiting, dizziness and a drop in blood pressure can occur.
A Rhododendron species, Pentanthera have grayanotoxin in their nectar. In the Balck Sea area, the R.ponticum and R luteum are the man culprits. I read a paper in 2010, where a Turkish man ingesting 2 tablespoons of some honey causing a traffic accident Recently a USA from Seattle had irregular heart beats, loss of muscle control and drop in blood pressure after ingesting raw honey. His symptoms lasted for 24 hours. You never can be sure when ingesting raw honey. I have never had a problem ingesting any type of raw honey
Interestingly the nectar’s toxin has no effect on honeybees. One spoonful of mad honey can cause mental impairment and central nervous system symptoms as headache, tingling of extremities and difficulties in breathing and circulation
Of note , mad honey has been used against the Roman troops led by General Pompey by the Persian army. The Persian army knowing the effects of mad honey had pots of the sweet honey laid out for the Romans to eat. You can imagine what happened. The Roman troops became disorientated and were defeated by the Persians. How clkever
Until tomorrow…