What is "drunk" honey and why is it dangerous for people?
Products dangerous to humans cannot always be distinguished by their appearance and even taste. "Drunk" honey looks like ordinary honey and is just as sweet and fragrant. This makes it even more dangerous. If you eat it a little, then a state similar to intoxication will come, but if someone is overzealous eating such honey, then the person will die.
Dangerous delicacy of Colchis
The existence of deadly honey has been known since ancient times. The ancient Greek historian Xenophon of Athens, who lived in the 5th-4th centuries BC, described the unpleasant acquaintance of Greek soldiers with “drunk” honey during the Greek-Persian war. The Hellenic army then camped in the mountains of Colchis, on the territory of modern Georgia. To feed themselves, they began to hunt and look for the gifts of nature in the forests.
The warriors found hives of wild bees in the forest and ate honey. Xenophon describes the consequences as follows: “And they all lay on the ground, as if after a defeat; and general gloom ensued.”
Those who ate a little just fell down and fell into a deep sleep. But the Greeks, who ate a little more, behaved intimidatingly. They looked like madmen - they shouted and sang, wandered aimlessly around the camp and fell constantly. Fortunately, everything ended well. The historian writes that in the morning everyone woke up alive, although they were very scared. The effects of poisoning were felt for several more days.
To be poisoned by "drunk" honey, a person needs to eat 100-150 grams. Obviously, there were too many people who wanted to taste sweets among the Greeks and no one exceeded the lethal dose.
"... The sick people came to their senses at the very hour at which they lost consciousness the day before, and on the third and fourth days they got up."
Toxicologists say that such honey is dangerous in any quantities, since its effect depends on the person's body weight and physical condition. Even 50 grams of this delicacy can kill a child or a woman, so you need to be extremely careful.
The inhabitants of Georgia knew about the properties of forest honey long before the story with the Greeks. Even in the 19th century, peasants from the vicinity of Batum bred bees only for the sake of wax. Honey for them was a kind of lottery - the chance of getting "drunk" and endangering life was very high.
As you may have guessed, deadly honey is obtained from the nectar of poisonous plants. Bees do not understand toxicology and produce honey, including from rhododendron, wild rosemary, azalea, marsh heather, aconite. The more of these plants grow near the hive, the higher the chance of poisoning.
People encounter "drunk" honey not only in the Caucasus. There are known cases of mass poisoning around the world. Old Japanese treatises tell about honey that can kill. In the mountains of the Land of the Rising Sun, cases of poisoning are still recorded, mainly among tourists.
Theoretically, "drunk" honey can be encountered in all areas. Henbane, hemlock, foxglove are plants whose honey is dangerous. Fortunately, they rarely grow in large numbers and the risk of poisoning in mid-latitudes is minimal.
