Some major Indian honey manufacturers had to swallow a bitter pill when the Centre for Environment and Science — a public-interest research and advocacy organisation based in Delhi — revealed data last week where only three out of 13 brands that it tested for purity, made the cut. The rest were found to contain modified sugar syrups. We pick four home-grown brands with authentic products.

Going places

"Nearly 50 per cent of all the honey sheds in India are located in Gwalior," says Vipin Singh Bhadoria about his native place in Madhya Pradesh. That's where he sources most of his material from, for his brand Beekeepers Raw Honey, though he also gets it from Bhind and Shivpuri in MP, Agra in Uttar Pradesh, and Kota in Rajasthan. He explains that honey manufacturing is a migratory business, in the sense that when the nectar of one set of flowers runs out, they have to shift their operations to a new place with suitable flowers. Bhadoria also tells us that the adulteration that the bigger brands have been accused of was an open secret within the industry. "The experienced guys would tell us that these people import the syrup under a different name and then use it in their honey," he says, adding that he sells a 500 gm jar for Rs 350.