Intrigued by the potential health benefits of honey, Fransisca Natalia and Jeremy Cooper delved deeper into nature’s own sweetener. In their search for natural honey, they were surprised to find so few Indonesian-sourced products, leading them to start Beema Honey. Their journey in this new field began an eye-opening discovery into the magic of bees, their role in our environment and just how beneficial the nectar of their hives really is.
When sugar is so readily affordable and accessible, why choose honey? Without a doubt the dominant sweetener in our food supply, sugar is almost inevitable in our everyday diets. This is not without its consequences: Indonesia is ranked 4th in the world for countries with the highest rate of diabetes, with WHO predicting 21,3 million Indonesians to have the disease by 2030.
Honey, on the other hand, does quite the opposite, this thick and golden liquid is documented for having a range of health benefits, with different types of honey purporting to have different use cases. “I found out that one of the natural products to overcome Gerd, or acid reflux, is pure honey,” shares Fransisca. “This is what first encouraged me to start looking for a good source here in Indonesia.”
However, finding pure honey in Indonesia is not as simple as one might think. Fransisca found that there were in fact many imported honey brands, but a very small selection of local brands —not to mention commercial brands selling ‘mixed’ or ‘fake’ honey. Realising this, Fransisca and her husband Jeremy decided to explore the field, educating themselves on how honey is produced and learning about various bee species. This became a real ‘curiosity crusade,’ where the two even joined communities and became members of the Indonesian Beekeeping Association, working alongside active beekeepers to see how organic and pesticide-free plantations could produce high-quality, single-origin honey.
Having thoroughly researched the ins-and-outs of bees, they began a homegrown honey business in 2017, and officially established their company in 2019. This was the beginning of Beema Honey, a playful name inspired by a character from the Mahabharata, Bima the commander, one of the ‘Pandawa’ brothers. Today, Beema Honey offers a wide variety of natural, single-origin raw honey, fully-sourced from Indonesia, to the market.
“Indonesia has a good climate for honey production all year round and the country is rich in forests and bees. Currently our beekeeping centres are found in Java and Sumatra but we also collect wild forest honey from other islands, including Flores in East Nusa Tenggara and Kalimantan,” Fransisca shares.
Beema Honey sustainably harvests honey from four types of native bee: Asiatic honeybee (Apis Cerana), European honeybee (Apis Mellifera), the Giant honeybee (Apis Dorsata) and the rare Trigona stingless bees. Each bee species produces a different kind of honey, which is further affected by its environment.
As Fransisca mentioned, some of the honey is harvested from wild bees, namely the Java Forest honey, made by wild Asiatic honeybees (from the deep forests of Central Java; and the Black Forest honey, made by the giant Apis Dorsata bee. In other cases, Beema also harvests honey from cultivated bees, meaning these bees are not ‘farmed’, per se, but are provided with hives and are then free to forage from the surrounding area. Beema are able to migrate these hives and colonies to different environments, essentially dictating the type of honey they can produce. For example, they can be placed within large cotton or cajuput (eucalyptus) plantations for many months, or in regions rich with rambutan trees. Here, the bees will collect nectar from blossoms, flowers or sap, which produces a specialised honey, also with its own characteristics, flavours and health benefits.
Yes, there is a very close relationship between the bees and their environment, a symbiotic partnership in which both need the other to thrive and survive. Whilst the environment can dictate what honey the bees make, the bees play an important role in pollinating vast areas, not simply flowers, but tree species as well. As such, they are imperative to the continued biodiversity of certain regions, including the variety of insects and animals in an ecosystem, playing an integral role in the growth of healthy forests across Indonesia.
“We have a deep respect for the bees and forests, which is why we are committed to a sustainable honey harvesting approach. Our [wild honey] harvesters carefully select and climb up to each hive to collect directly from the source in its natural state. We never take all the honey from any hive, but instead are careful to collect only the excess, leaving the brood and enough honey for the hive to remain intact and healthy. This process also ensures that no harm comes to the queen or the colony. With this bee-friendly approach, wild hives are able to replenish the harvested honey quickly,” Fransisca affirms.
By practising such methods, it also encourages the village communities and the honey hunters to harvest more sustainably, helping to protect and support the rainforests and wildlife of Indonesia while generating a much-needed income. For Fransisca and Jeremy, Beema Honey transcends its business function: the bee population has been declining in recent years, and as beekeepers themselves they have inherited the responsibility of protecting the future of bees and their hives —and encouraging others to do the same.
To further educate people that beekeeping is important for the environment, Beema Honey invites them to explore their Beema Honey Bee Sanctuary located in Gunung Salak, West Java. Here, in the peaceful mountainsides, visitors can enjoy an interactive, firsthand experience of beekeeping and learn more about Indonesia’s native bee species.
Circling back to health, one of the central goals of Beema Honey has been to raise awareness of the many benefits raw and natural honey has. Considered a superfood in both modern and traditional circles, benefits are said to range from anti-inflammation, digestive and cardiovascular health, antiviral properties, skin health and it is also known as a powerful antioxidant. Many will champion the benefits of New Zealand’s Manuka honey, but the trigona honey scores just as high with a Unique Mānuka Factor (UMF) of 25+. Ironically, in these modern times, honey is considered a ‘sugar substitute’, when really modern sugar is the substitute for what has long been nature’s own sweetener —Beema Honey hopes to bring this perspective back. In a country where diabetes is on the rise, a switch to this natural source is certainly a positive move.
“We strive to provide the highest quality superfood direct from the hive crafted with honesty and integrity while nurturing a greater awareness and support for the environment. And, we pride ourselves on providing a pure, natural and high-quality product. All our honeys are raw, meaning no heating process of pasteurisation.” Fransisca explains.
Beema Honey offers a range of more than 20 different products available year-round, each with their individual characteristics based on their floral type, origin and season. In certain seasons of the year, Beema Honey is able to move the bees to plantations to make special varietals, Durian and Coffee blossom honeys, in addition to producing specialty honeys including Saffron honey during Ramadan and Gingerbread honey at Christmas. They also offer other products like bee pollen; raw honeycomb; chilli, ginger, charcoal and black garlic infused honeys; and a range of health supplements branded under Beema Wellness.
Beema Honey can be found in selected stores (Ranch Market, Aeon, and Growell), as well as online stores (Tokopedia and Shopee).
IG: @beemahoney.id
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