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Kachkal mountains, Türkiye
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In a small wooden shack perched high on metal-encased stilts, the drone makes a high-pitched, loud, insistent sound.
Hassan Qutluata, wearing a beekeeping suit but with his hands uncovered, squeezes the bellows of a bee smoker filled with pine wood. Pale wreaths swirl in the air, mirroring the mist that drifts over the densely forested slopes of the Kachkal Mountains outside.
The smoke is meant to calm the bees and hide the pheromones they release when they feel threatened and warn other bees of an attack.
When Kutleata opens the lid of the round linden hive, the hum rises to a crescendo. But these bees aren’t angry, just the honey.
We’re here to harvest deli bar. Bar means “honey” and deli means “crazy” or “crazy.” Turkey’s Black Sea region is one of only two places in the world that can produce Deli Bar, the other being Nepal’s Hindu Kush Himalayas.
“In our pristine forests, purple rhododendrons bloom in the spring,” Kutluata told CNN. “Bees collect nectar from those flowers, and that’s how we get crazy honey.”
Flower nectar contains a natural toxin called grayanotoxin. The amount in honey varies depending on the season and what other flowers the bees are feeding on, but a spoonful should contain enough to give you a pleasant high. On the other hand, if it ends up in a bottle, you’ll end up going to the hospital.
For thousands of years, Del Val has been used as a folk remedy, taken in spoonfuls daily to lower blood pressure, and as a sexual stimulant. Today, this potentially dangerous delicacy is sold at a premium price.
Using a knife, Kutluata carefully plucks the combs from the nest, collecting them in a bucket as the sticky elixir drips thick and sweet.
Delivery is a deep amber color and has a sharp aroma. The taste is simple, with a faint scent of barnyard grass. There is a distinct sensation that signals the presence of grayanotoxin. The bitterness of the herbs underlies the sweetness of the honey, and you can feel the burning heat in the back of your throat.
Today’s honey has all the signs. “You shouldn’t eat too much; if you eat more than that, you may be affected,” says Cutluata. “Hallucinations are not involved. They just cause dizziness, low blood pressure, low-grade fever, nausea, and difficulty walking.”
We do not recommend more than a teaspoon or tablespoon. “You need to be careful when consuming this honey,” says Kutluata. “Too much of anything is harmful. Too much honey is also harmful.”
This is the food that defeated armies. In the 4th century BC, the Greek military leader Xenophon wrote of a soldier traveling near Trabzon on the Black Sea coast who ate too many sweets: “There was not a single soldier who could not stand up, but those who had eaten little looked like men who were very drunk, while those who had eaten much looked like men who had gone mad or even were dying. So they lay in great numbers, as if the army had been defeated, and great despondency prevailed.”
“That’s enough for today. The bees are starting to attack, so let’s start going downhill,” Cutruata says.
Once you’re back on solid ground, the ladder will return to the hut and you won’t be able to climb any further. The enemy this small fortress faces is not the Greek army, but a bear obsessed with honey.
The metal around the pole is to prevent bears from digging into it with their claws, and the height of the platform, about 10 feet off the ground, is to prevent the mother bear from tossing her cubs up to collect honey out of reach.
Kutluata instinctively recognizes the danger. Nearly 20 years after the attack, he still bears scars on his hands and feet from fighting a bear that attacked its nest and fell into a stupor.
The bear, which appeared to be sleeping, woke up when Kutluata and his friends approached, and the ensuing chase and struggle left Kutluata in intensive care for more than a week.
“Whether you’re afraid of bears or not, we have to do this work,” he says. “We continue to keep bees. We encounter bears almost every day. If we go up the mountain, we always encounter bears.”
But when dangerous doses of Dari Bal are not involved, “bears don’t attack us. Bears run from us, and we run from bears.”
We hopped in the truck and rattled down the winding mountain roads to Kutluata’s parents’ home near the village of Yairlatural, not far from Alili Köyü. This village is aptly named “Bee Village”.
His parents, wife and son join him for lunch. They are a three-generation beekeeping family. Tables are set under the eaves of traditional-style houses, with box hives stacked on the empty lower floors.
“Our village is very cool. Summers are also very cool here. There are no mosquitoes. It’s not too hot to stay here like in the city,” Kutluata says. “We live in nature here. There’s a river, so we can go swimming. There’s no noise here.”
The pure environment contributes to the quality of the honey, says his wife Emine. “What makes us different is the nature, the altitude, and the lack of settlements. That plays a big role in the production process.”
Deli Bar is just one of the honeys the family grows. White chestnut flowers bloom after the purple rhododendrons. Then the white rhododendrons bloomed.
In summer, if the weather is not rainy, Cutruata bees can fill their hives in about 20 days.
“The longer the honey stays in the hive, the higher its quality. The quality is determined by the promil value,” he explains. Promil refers to the concentration of honey. “The higher the promil value, the higher the quality.”
“Chestnut honey is everywhere, but it really makes a difference,” adds Emine. “In terms of promil value, it could be 600, 700, 800, but elsewhere it could be 500 in terms of quality.”
Honey is a breakfast staple in Turkish households, and the Kutluatas showed us how to mix it with butter and spread it on bread to start the day hearty and full of energy.
The properties of this food as a natural antibiotic have long been documented. It is one of the oldest medicines in the world.
For Emine, honey “represents health. When I have a sore throat, I turn to honey. When I’m coughing, I turn to honey. When I’m feeling weak, I turn to honey.”
And for Cutruata, the bees themselves restore her mental health. “When I’m feeling down, I go to the bees. When I’m stressed or worried about work or the outside world, I go to the bees,” he says. “When you open the hive and take care of the nest, you feel calm and happy. Then all your stress and worries disappear.”
Deliveries can be legally sold in Türkiye and are legal in many countries. However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not recommend its consumption.
“Consumers should check honey labels to ensure it is not labeled as ‘crazy honey’ or sold with intoxicating qualities,” an FDA spokesperson told CNN.
“Eating honey containing high amounts of this toxin can cause ‘crazy honey’ poisoning, with symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and dizziness. This type of poisoning is rare.”
This article was originally published in 2024. Updated and republished in November 2025. CNN’s Christina McFarlane, Stephanie Brendis and Ishur Saljuçe contributed to this article.
