From Hive to Jar: How Yemeni Sidr Honey Is Made
· UpdatedThis is how Sidr honey is made, step by step. Every jar of ours has a short, documented journey: from a hive in Wadi Doan to a pantry in Australia, with one beekeeper and one founder in between. Our founder Tawfik has worked with the same beekeeper since 2011. Here is each step.
The journey at a glance
- The beekeeper moves his hives into the Sidr valleys before the peak.
- The bees feed on Sidr blossom alone through the 40-day Baghyah window.
- The beekeeper collects each comb only when it is ripe.
- The honey is pressed by hand, cold, with no heat.
- Every Sidr season is lab-tested in New Zealand.
- The honey is air-freighted to Australia and packed in Victoria.
1. The beekeeper moves the hives
Yemeni beekeeping is nomadic, a craft passed down through families. Our beekeeper moves his Langstroth hives to where the Sidr trees are about to flower, following the season through the valleys of Hadramout. He travels to remote wadis with no farms, only wild trees of the same species, and documents where he goes.
2. The Baghyah window
Around the fourth week of flowering, the nectar peaks and stays strong for four to five weeks. This is Baghyah, the peak harvest. The Sidr trees dominate the valley and there is nothing else in flower, so the bees make honey from Sidr alone.
3. Ripeness, judged by hand
There is no fixed timetable. The beekeeper fills his containers as each comb ripens, judged by eye, by weight and by years of experience. Honey taken too early is thin; honey left too long can be lost.
4. Cold pressing, no heat
In Yemen the combs are pressed in a manual stainless steel press. The honey is squeezed out by mechanical pressure alone, the wax is separated, and no heat is used at any point. It is not pasteurised, not filtered, not blended.
5. Tested in New Zealand
Each season's Sidr is tested by ALS Food & Environmental, an independent laboratory in New Zealand. It measures Total Activity (TA) and runs a C4 sugar test for cheap cane or corn syrup. Our 2026 results: Premium Sidr TA 26.8 and Royal Sidr TA 33.4, both with a C4 sugar result of 1.0. Every batch also carries a certificate of origin confirming it is Yemeni.
6. Air-shipped and packed in Australia
The honey is air-freighted under controlled conditions and packed in Victoria. We sell the current season's harvest, not old stock.
Why our beekeeper never feeds sugar
In industrial beekeeping, hives are often fed sugar syrup to boost output, and bees are treated with antibiotics and chemicals. Our beekeeper does neither. The bees forage only on wild nectar, which is why the honey tastes of one tree and one season.
A bee that needs no chemicals
Yemen's native bee, Apis mellifera jemenitica, is naturally resistant to Varroa mites, the parasite that forces most of the world's beekeepers to use chemical treatments. It is also tolerant of the heat of the Yemeni valleys. Prof. Muhammad Saeed Khanbash of Hadramout University documented the subspecies.
What "raw" means on our label
- Raw: no heat, pasteurisation, blending or micro-filtration after pressing.
- Unheated: never warmed, at any stage.
- Unfiltered: not micro-filtered, so pollen and natural particles stay in.
- Unblended: one season, one source, never mixed.
When a season fails
Some years the rain or the flowering disappoints. When the October Baghyah sells out, we may source the spring Marbai harvest instead, and we say so on the product. We would rather tell you than sell you a lesser honey under the same name.
Is Yemeni Sidr honey organic?
Our Sidr is made with organic practices: wild trees in a valley with no farms, no pesticides, no sugar feeding and no antibiotics for the bees. Yemen has no organic certification scheme, so no Yemeni honey, ours included, carries an organic certificate. What we can show you instead is the proof behind those practices: the season, the valley, the lab report and the certificate of origin.
Why Sidr honey crystallises, and why that is good
Sidr is rich in fructose, so it crystallises slowly, over months. It starts at the bottom of the jar, where glucose settles into denser crystals, while the top stays liquid. Raw honey contains natural particles of pollen, wax and propolis that seed the crystals. Crystallisation is a sign of raw honey. Stand the jar in warm water below 40°C to loosen it.
The harvest-to-jar record
Each season our beekeeper photographs the hives, the harvest and the pressing, and Tawfik records the honey's arrival and packing in Australia. We add them here every season, so you can see the honey behind your jar.
Frequently asked questions
Where does Sidr honey come from?
Ours comes from Wadi Doan in Hadramout, Yemen. Read what Sidr honey is.
Does Sidr honey crystallise?
Yes, slowly. It is natural, and it does not affect quality.
How do I know a Sidr honey is genuine?
Ask for the season, the valley, a lab report and a certificate of origin. Our guide on how to buy authentic Sidr covers the rest.
More about the valley this honey comes from: Wadi Doan, Hadramout.
