First look impression – Pure Mad honey has got golden color and it shines brighter when viewed in direct light. Golden color is because of rhododendron sap that worker bees forage on.
Mad honey in a container flows in smooth waves when shaken. When extracted and filtered from honey comb it looks smooth thin liquid rather than thick liquid and flows in a continuous thread when poured.
In addition it gets settled in a bottom of glass containing water. These are also considered as some basic guide to know if any honey is pure or not. It may produce bubbles or may have a fizzy appearance at the top because of the fermentation process that occurs naturally. It is better to stir before consumption.
The fermentation happens, because the honey is highly liquid with high moisture content as compared to normal honey that is more like a Newtonian fluid, which is more viscous.
1. Aroma
Mad honey has a sweet and strong aroma of rhododendron. The smell is also like a blend of flowers mixed in a bottle.
It has also got a kick to its aroma and while you smell it can give you pleasant feeling. It may lose sweet aroma and smell if contaminated with moisture upon storage, but it has nothing to do with its quality if stored properly.
People also claim some mad honey has got a flowery beer type of smell.
2. Taste
Taste of the mad honey is what makes it unique and preferable for customers over normal honey. Strong honey besides being sweet it is also tangy and has a slight bitter aftertaste. You can feel a slight tingling sensation at the back of the throat. It may create a slight burning sensation to your tongue and even skin. Local honey hunters decide how strong the mad honey is by putting a few drops of honey to their skin before devouring it.
3. Effects
Mad honey is also known as psychedelic honey due to the presence of Grayanotoxin in it. Person may also exhibit any one symptom out of or combination of dizziness, blurred vision, nausea, vomiting, vertigo (a condition in which you feel like you or objects around you are moving but actually they are not), headache, sweating/excessive, inability to stand, general weakness and even unconsciousness.
We recommend you try a tablespoonful of honey in 24 hours that is a recommended dose and safe way to consume. Whereas 2-3 tablespoons may lead to above symptoms, for a more powerful effect you can try mad honey in an empty stomach. Note Avoid consuming alcohol before or after consumption of mad honey and don’t feed it to infants.
There are very few companies that offer Mad Honey. Bestmadhoney.com has a normal and strong version of mad honey for sale. Their customer reports the following experience with Mad honey
“ After a big spoonful of strong version of mad honey firstly I felt a slight tingling sensation in my tongue and throat. This is what happens in the first minute.
After 5-7 minutes I was feeling a little bit dizzy and everything seemed a little bit slow. I still felt relaxed.
Note The dose was a little more than the recommended dose but it was not enough for her to get knocked up which she didn’t want to and also we don’t recommend you too to exceed the recommended dose.
After 1 hour
I was more relaxed. Everything around me was slower than before and my friend noticed I was smiling the whole time. I was still active and felt like my energy levels were higher than before.
After 5 hours
It was night time. I fell asleep early and had a wonderful sleep. I could sleep early. I was surprised as I am a night owl.
It lasted for about 24 hours. I was feeling some of the effects the next morning too but it had ended by the time it was 24 hours. Mad honey has maximum effect for around 5-6 hours and slowly it fades away within a day. “
There are several cases of mad honey intoxication around the world. But no one has ever died of mad honey intoxication. In some cases of overconsumption some people admitted have lower heart rate (bradycardia) and lower blood pressure but were normal and completely fine within 24 hours.