Gelam (GH) is our special honey which uniquely categorised as monofloral honey in irony to the fact that Malaysia is rich with plenty of blooms all year round. However, this special tree called Gelam is the native plants, grow wildly along the east coast right to the North of our peninsular on soft, white sand area, under the burning hot sun, creating an awesome landscape of lush trees and plants along the beaches.
Gelam honey is made of our famous wild bee, Apis Dorsata, which feeds from Melaleucacajupati Powell [Gelam] nectar, and its pollen.The plant belongs to the Myrtaceae family or the family of tea tree.
As we walked into Gelam Forest, we were pleasantly surprised with how cool it was to be wandering within the lush trees despite of the heat, burning sun when we were passing the sandy entrance. It was very quiet, with no sounds of the wilds, however, there were some footprints of the beasts. We believe, if we saw or heard something that we thought of danger, we will not talk about it, so I stop here and continue with how beautiful the forest is.
Gelam trees are not as tall as Tualang, however, still stand tall. The "production" of honey in gelam forest is limited because they only flower once or twice a year depending on the nature, however, naturally it always bloom in July/August. Our journey in honey hunting is not usually successful however, we always grateful that we are home safely and be able to witness the great view of greeneries in peace and quiet; it is a working holiday with hard work. Journey of getting the honey takes about 6 - 7 hours, begins in the 9am -ish and ends at 6pm.
More information of Gelam is now available here, Our Gelam.