Puebla (Mexico), May 27 (EFE).- The production of honey from the melipona bee is an endemic pre-Hispanic economic activity in the municipality of Cuetzalan del Progreso belonging to the central Mexican state of Puebla, which is maintained by the inhabitants of the place who also boast of the healing properties of the substance.
This activity boomed with the Totonaca people who found the importance of caring for this bee that produces honey, wax and pollen, despite not having a sting and being small.
This honey is considered special because it can only be obtained once a year, that is, the clay pots can be opened in the hottest month, May being the ideal, however, the producers assure that the climates are very changeable. and that affects its production.
These bees are easy to care for, since the ideal is to place two clay pots on top where these wasps begin to stick with honey and they create their entrance, that is, the hole or tunnel through which they enter and exit the pots.
In this process, the bees go in and out of the containers with the collected pollen and begin with the creation of their colony, giving space to the production of honey, pollen and wax that they leave inside for a year.
Miguel Ayala Rosario, meliponicultor, shared with EFE that the activity of meliponiculture has been transformed to prevent the invasion of bee colonies, since with the ancestral methods hundreds of meliponas were killed, which no longer recovered and there was loss of the species.
He said that currently in Cuetzalan there is the “Sanctuary of the Meliponas” where they seek to preserve the native bees of the region, which has multiple varieties that have the same purpose, so in this place they protect the yellow and black ones that They are the oldest in the region.
Ayala Rosario explained that currently the pots are opened to locate the pots or balls of honey, which are torn with the tip of a knife to be able to enter a syringe needle and the honey is extracted without touching the bees and without breaking the honeycombs. .
This helps these insects regenerate more quickly and continue their production course, since before the colony was broken and placed on strainers and squeezed until all the honey was removed, regardless of whether there were bees inside.
AID KIT FULL OF FLAVOR
The producer shared that the honey from the melipona bee is unmatched, because it has medical properties that heal and help counteract the effects of some diseases such as diabetes.
He explained that honey is used to treat conditions such as gastritis and gastric ulcer, to heal wounds, burns, as well as to heal diabetic feet, in addition to improving the immune system, helping to prevent and improve anemia, relieves cough, erases lines of expression and helps the fertility of women.
Meanwhile, the propolis they produce is useful to overcome allergies, protects the liver, helps with kidney problems, as well as improving sexual performance in men.
He said that this honey is expensive due to the properties and the work that is done to extract the honey, reaching 1,200 Mexican pesos (about 68 dollars) per liter. EFE (I)
