Yucatán Peninsula Xunankab Bee Honey

Produced in Yucatán in the municipalities of Mani, Yaxcaba, and Mama, Xunankab honey is amber in color and creamy in texture, while the flavor is intense with a pleasant acidity. The honey is often used to treat hearing, skin, eye, respiratory, and digestive system problems.

The stingless bees that produce this honey are known as Melipona becheii, or locally as Xunankab, meaning lady of honey in the Mayan language. They attack intruders by biting them and build their nests in empty forest tree trunks, called jobones.

The bees depend on the forest, while many plant species depend on the stingless bees for pollination purposes, but the competition for nesting places and food with the more productive Apis mellifera bees are threatening these indigenous bees.