Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted October 8, 2024 Posted October 8, 2024 Nono, not something that happens when you come home with lipstick on your collar or forget her birthday. Honey made from rhododendrons can be hallucinogenic. The U.S. has more than 300 types of honey, but there’s one you won’t find among store shelves: mad honey. Upon visual inspection, mad honey offers up a clue that it’s a bit different. Created when bees feast almost exclusively on nectar and pollen from flowering rhododendron bushes, the natural sweetener often has a reddish hue. It also has a slightly bitter taste, though another unusual characteristic that appears shortly after consumption is what gives mad honey its name: It causes hallucinations. Mad honey is a rarity, found mostly among high-altitude honeycombs in the mountains of Turkey and Nepal. Harvesting it can be dangerous — Himalayan giant honeybees tend to create hives among cliffs and rugged outcrops — and consumption can be, too. Pollen and nectar from several species of rhododendrons in these areas contain grayanotoxins, a poison that helps the plants ward off hungry herbivores. While small doses of grayanotoxins can cause euphoria and lightheadedness in humans, larger doses can cause hallucinations, vomiting, temporary paralysis, and even death. Those sometimes-disastrous reactions haven’t stopped humans from seeking out the sticky substance, though. Some practitioners of folk medicine have long believed that small doses of the toxin-laced honey can be beneficial for human healing. Microdoses of mad honey have been used to treat high blood pressure, diabetes, and arthritis — don’t try this at home — but researchers are unsure how beneficial the stuff is for anyone other than its original creators (bees) 2 4 Quote
Caprock Kid Posted October 8, 2024 Posted October 8, 2024 Make mead from the mad honey and you would have quite a concoction! 4 Quote
watab kid Posted October 9, 2024 Posted October 9, 2024 wish i could talk to my old bee keeper friend about now and learn a bit more of this , unless they are wild bees the whole process is a science , Quote
Forty Rod SASS 3935 Posted January 14 Posted January 14 I love honey, but I'll pass on this one. I already have old age mental problems, I don't need any artificial sources. I AM NOT CRAZY! YOU JUST TAKE THAT BACK! 3 Quote
Subdeacon Joe Posted January 14 Posted January 14 30 minutes ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said: I love honey, but I'll pass on this one. I already have old age mental problems, I don't need any artificial sources. I AM NOT CRAZY! YOU JUST TAKE THAT BACK! We know that you aren't crazy. Just somewhat reality challenged. 1 Quote
Forty Rod SASS 3935 Posted January 14 Posted January 14 21 minutes ago, Subdeacon Joe said: We know that you aren't crazy. Just somewhat reality challenged. It's only a challenge if you don't enjoy it! 1 4 Quote
Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001 Posted January 14 Posted January 14 ya need some homey , to go with your mushrooms ? have at it 🤪 Quote
Smokin Gator SASS #29736 Posted January 14 Posted January 14 I've seen shows where they show people harvesting up on cliffs. Really dangerous. Not sure if this is the same region. Never heard that the honey itself might be a problem. Quote
irish ike, SASS #43615 Posted January 15 Posted January 15 THe plant and its flowers are highly toxic to animals. And humans of eaten in quanity! Quote
Stump Water Posted January 15 Posted January 15 4 hours ago, irish ike, SASS #43615 said: THe plant and its flowers are highly toxic to animals. And humans of eaten in quanity! And you do NOT want to be anywhere near it being burned. Likewise for Mountain Laurel. I don't know about the actual toxicity of the smoke, but it's about like tear gas. 1 Quote
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