Kurnool sits where the dry Rayalaseema plains meet the Nallamala hills — one of the largest contiguous forest stretches in southern India. It is a good place to keep bees, and a very good place to find wild ones.
The beekeeping year
October to December — building up
The tulsi and post-monsoon flowering starts. Colonies that thinned out over the rains build back up. This is when tulsi honey is harvested, and when hives are inspected, repaired and moved to where the flowering is heaviest.
February to May — the main season
The big one. Forest flowering peaks across the Nallamala belt, and jamun and neem come into bloom in March and April. Most of the year's honey is collected in these four months. Wild forest combs are lifted once, at the end of the flowering, when the honey is fully ripened.
June to September — the lean months
The monsoon shuts down foraging. Almost nothing is harvested. Colonies live on the stores we deliberately leave behind, and the beekeeper's job becomes protection: keeping hives dry, watching for disease, and resisting the temptation to take more than the bees can spare.
Why we only lift capped combs
Bees fan nectar with their wings to drive off moisture. When the water content drops to around 18–20%, the honey is ripe and the bees seal each cell with a wax cap. That cap is the bees' own signal that the honey is finished.
Harvesting before capping gives you honey with too much moisture, which ferments in the jar. It also gives you more weight per harvest, which is exactly why unripe honey ends up in the market. We wait for the caps.
An unripe comb yields more honey today and a fermented jar in three months. There is no version of this trade where rushing pays.
From comb to jar
- Lifting. Smoke is used sparingly to calm the colony. Only fully capped frames are taken, and only where the colony has clear surplus.
- Uncapping. The wax caps are shaved off by hand with a cold knife.
- Extraction. Frames go into a manual centrifugal extractor. The honey spins out; the comb structure survives and goes back to the bees to be refilled.
- Cold filtering. One pass through a fine stainless mesh at room temperature to take out wax fragments. No heat. No pressure filtration. Pollen stays in.
- Settling. The honey rests in food-grade drums for a few days so air bubbles and remaining wax rise to the top and are skimmed off.
- Bottling. Filled into glass jars in small batches and labelled with the variety and harvest season.
What we never do
- Heat honey to make it pour clearer or resist crystallising.
- Ultra-filter it — that would strip out the pollen that proves its origin.
- Blend batches or seasons together to create a "consistent" product.
- Feed colonies sugar syrup during a flow to inflate yield.
- Buy honey from traders and re-label it.
Why buying direct matters
Almost all honey adulteration happens in the supply chain between the beekeeper and the shelf — in aggregation, blending and bottling. Cut that chain out and the problem largely disappears.
When you order from us, the honey goes from our apiary to your kitchen with nobody in between. If you want to know which hive your jar came from, call Kuruva Sunkanna on +91 99892 49149 and ask. He will tell you.
Frequently asked questions
Where is Kanna Natural Honey harvested?
Our honey is harvested in and around Kurnool district in Andhra Pradesh, including apiaries at the edge of the Nallamala forest range and farm apiaries near Kurnool and Nandyal.
Is honey harvesting harmful to bees?
Responsible beekeeping is not. Combs are lifted only when fully capped and only when the colony has surplus beyond what it needs, smoke is used sparingly to calm the bees rather than drive them out, and enough stores are always left behind for the colony to survive the lean season.
How many times a year is honey harvested?
It depends on the variety. Wild forest honey is harvested once a year at the end of the February–May flowering. Multiflora honey can be harvested several times through the year as different crops flower. Jamun, neem and tulsi honey each have a single short window.
Try it for yourself
Every jar of Kanna Natural Honey is harvested by our own beekeepers around Kurnool and bottled without heating or blending. Cash on delivery, anywhere in India.
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