Jiuzhaigou Honey

Jiuzhaigou Honey

Jiuzhaigou Honey is an Agricultural Product Geographical Indication product.

　　Jiuzhaigou Honey is a specialty of Jiuzhaigou County in Aba Prefecture, Sichuan Province. It is a nationally protected product under China’s Agricultural Product Geographical Indication system.

　　In recent years, the local beekeeping industry in Jiuzhaigou County has received high attention from experts at national, provincial, and prefectural levels, who have spoken highly of the quality of the honey. They believe that the region has rich nectar plant resources and indigenous honeybee germplasm, offering great potential and room for development in both honey and raw, eco-friendly honey production. This plays a vital role in protecting the genetic diversity of the indigenous Chinese honeybee germplasm.

　　In 2014, "Jiuzhaigou Honey," submitted by the Jiuzhaigou County Animal Husbandry Workstation, passed the review of the Quality and Safety Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and expert evaluation, and was granted protection under the National Agricultural Product Geographical Indication registration.

　　Geographic Scope

　　The protected geographic area for the Jiuzhaigou Honey Agricultural Product Geographical Indication includes 17 townships: Yongle Town, Zhangzhazhen, Yongfeng Township, Anle Township, Yonghe Township, Baihe Township, Lingjiang Township, Heihe Township, Yuwa Township, Dalu Township, Shuanghe Township, Baohua Township, Luoyi Township, Wujiao Township, Majia Township, Guoyuan Township, and Caodi Township. The geographical coordinates are: 32°53′–33°43′N, 103°27′–104°26′E, spanning 93 km from east to west and 89.93 km from north to south, covering a total protected area of 5,290 square kilometers. The production scale is 0.8 million beehives, with an annual output of 25 tons.

　　Product Quality and Characteristic Features

　　1. External Sensory Characteristics: Jiuzhaigou Honey is thick and creamy like condensed fat, free of impurities, with a golden or amber color, fragrant aroma, delicious taste, sweet yet not greasy, and features the distinctive floral scents of nectar plants such as Codonopsis, linden, and motherwort. 2. Internal Quality Indicators: Sampling tests conducted by the Bee Product Quality Supervision and Testing Center of the Ministry of Agriculture showed that the internal quality indicators of Jiuzhaigou Honey surpass relevant national standards. These include: moisture content of 19.6%, which is about 6.7% lower than that of ordinary market honey (e.g., Sichuan-produced rapeseed honey has 21% moisture content); fructose at 37.8%, about 11.2% higher than ordinary market honey (e.g., Sichuan-produced rapeseed honey contains 34% fructose); glucose at 30.9%, with the two totaling 68.7%; and amylase activity at 17.6 mL/(g·h), approximately 35.4% higher than that of ordinary market honey (e.g., Sichuan-produced rapeseed honey has an amylase activity of 13 mL/g·h). The quality testing indicators of Jiuzhaigou Honey should comply with the following standards: moisture ≤20%, fructose ≥36%, glucose ≥29%, sucrose ≤5%, amylase activity (1% starch solution) ≥8 (ml/g·h). 3. Safety Requirements: Compliant with GB14963-2011 "National Food Safety Standard – Honey."