Jinping Honey

Jinping Honey

　　Jinping Honey is a specialty of Jinping County in Qiandongnan Prefecture, Guizhou Province. It is produced by Chinese honeybees gathering nectar from various wildflowers and is fully ripened. The capped, mature raw honey has a deep yellow color, a unique flavor, rich and mellow aroma, high concentration, is sweet and delicious, and is highly nutritious.

　　The Chinese honeybee in Jinping is an outstanding breed among the bee species in southwestern China. Over the years, Jinping County has promoted the conversion of farmland to forests and grasslands, encouraging beekeepers to sow nectariferous plants on barren hills, grasslands, and among forests, while protecting existing nectar source forests. The county also combines development with fruit-growing forests, planting fruit trees or other types of wood that offer valuable nectar for beekeeping, thereby improving the beekeeping ecological environment and nectar source structure, as well as enhancing the productivity of Chinese honeybees. At the same time, through purposeful queen bee selection and breeding, the disease resistance of bee colonies has been improved. Bee colonies have been cultivated that reproduce quickly in spring, produce large amounts of honey, build comb swiftly, do not engage in robbing behavior, and have strong resistance to diseases and pests. Suitable high-quality Chinese honeybee breeds from other regions have also been introduced to improve local bees—enhancing their disease resistance and enriching their genetic diversity. Furthermore, enterprises, cooperative economic organizations, and specialized associations drive industrial development, achieving scaled production, mass product output, and premium quality. Gradually forming industrialized operations, beekeeping has truly become a pillar industry that promotes income growth among bee farmers and boosts local government revenue.

　　Produced by Chinese honeybees gathering nectar from various wildflowers and fully ripened, the capped, mature raw honey has a deep yellow color, a unique flavor, rich and mellow aroma, high concentration, is sweet and delicious, and is highly nutritious. It is also the type of honey recorded in the Compendium of Materia Medica (Bencao Gangmu), known for its excellent medicinal efficacy and is the preferred honey for use as a medicinal tonic.

　　In recent years, Jinping County has leveraged its climate and ecological resource advantages to vigorously develop the Chinese honeybee farming industry. The number of beekeepers is gradually increasing, and farmers have achieved good economic returns from raising Chinese honeybees. By the end of 2012, the county had over 500 beekeeping households, with more than 6,000 standard boxes of Chinese honeybees, producing nearly 60 tons of honey annually, generating a value of 2.4 million yuan.