Honey is one of the most incredibly versatile products Mother Nature has to offer. When we think of honey, its amazing medical benefits come to mind immediately. Mad honey is an amped-up version of regular honey. Extracted from the rhododendron flower, mad honey has hallucinogenic properties.
What makes the honey so 'mad'? Well it has an active neurotoxin called grayanotoxin, which gives the 'psychedelic' properties. While it is tradition for the Gurung tribe to dangle from the mountains and collect that nectar, the same has also been found in the Black Sea region of Turkey for over a millennia. There it is called Deli Bal. That's where the weapon of war part comes in.
In 5th century BC, Xenophon - a Greek historian and philosopher - wrote about the effects of the mad honey when he and his army encountered it while retreating from Babylon and his troops enchanted by the sweet nectar had more than their fair share in the woods:
"All the soldiers who ate of the honeycombs lost their senses, seized with vomiting and purging, none of them being able to stand on their legs. Those who ate but a little were like men very drunk, and those who ate much like madmen, and some like dying persons. In this condition, great numbers lay on the ground, as if there had been a defeat. The next day, none of them died, but recovered their senses about the same hour as they were seized; and the third and fourth day, they go up as if they had taken a strong potion.”
Picture source :- themadhoney.com
