FAQ

Amazomel is a Swiss-Brazilian honey enterprise based in Manaus, Brazil, that enables the collection and processing of the rare Melipona honey from over 400 families in the Amazon rain forest. By preparing the honey for sale in Brazil and elsewhere, Amazomel is helping to ensure a fair price and sustainable income for these families. This partnership fights poverty while supporting biodiversity and providing a safe, meaningful work alternative for the beekeepers who might otherwise be forced to clear trees for farming.

NTFP is a non-profit foundation created in 2002 by Swiss forest engineer, Dieter Bratschi. Dieter’s love of Brazil and the rain forest began with his first visit to the region as a young Master’s student at the renowned ETH University in Zurich. His passion for the local culture and the wonders of the jungle inspired him to devote his expertise to ensuring the sustainability of both. His idea to supply beehives to interested rain forest families began as a way to prevent clearing trees for farming. It has since grown into an ecological and economical development project in which NTFP provides funds for hives, training in organic beekeeping, and technical assistance to the new beekeepers. NTFP is working to develop the global market for Melipona honey to ensure that the beekeepers families can count on sustainable demand for this special honey.

Amazomel’s Melipona honey is an exceptionally rare honey, owing to the limited production of the tiny, stingless Melipona bee. Unlike normal Apis honeybees that produce about 40 liters of honey per colony per year, each Melipona colony produces just 4 liters. Locally, the citrusy-sweet honey is valued for its health and medicinal properties, but its taste and light consistency is becoming prized as a gourmet accompaniment and nutraceutical ingredient. At Amazomel, besides the incredible taste, we are proud that our organic honey is helping to fight poverty and deforestation while supporting biodiversity in the Amazon rain forest. Your purchase helps to sustain a way of life and a fair income to our local beekeepers and restores them to their ancestral role as stewards of the rain forest.

Currently, over 420 families have taken up beekeeping thanks to the support of NTFP Foundation and Amazomel. While the beekeeping families sell a portion of their harvest to Amazomel for processing and sale in Brazil and elsewhere, they retain some for their own use and for making other products such as baked goods which they sell directly. NTFP is currently seeking impact investment to fund the next wave of growth with the goal of increasing the number of families to 4’000 by 2030. Your purchase is helping to keep our current beekeepers whole and ensure funds to protect the hives in times of drought or fire, which are sadly increasingly common in the Amazon.

Please contact info@amazomel.com to learn about our B2B opportunities.

Please contact info@amazomel.com to receive our impact investment prospectus.

Native Stingless Bee honey has a sharp tangy, slightly sour taste with citrus and floral undertones. Its aroma is often described as sweet and floral, reflecting the diverse flora from which the bees collect nectar. Native Stingless Bee honey is much runnier than Manuka and all other honey produced by European honey bees for that matter. Its consistency is closer to a syrup than a honey. This is due to the honeys higher moisture content of roughly 26%. It does not crystallise as readily as traditional honey.