Yaman: Secrets of the most expensive honey in the world

Virginie Vican

In Yemen, it is said that the honey of the valley of Wadi Dau'an, Hadramawt is a liquid as precious as oil. It brings wealth to its sellers. Doctors claim it is a universal remedy. For women, it is a synonym for fertility, while men proclaim its aphrodisiac qualities. 

Its taste - like butter caramels - its purity, rarity and the medical applications listed for it in the Quran, make this honey the most expensive in the world. Sold for up to $90 per kilo in Yemen, prices can reach up to $200 dollars in Dubai, where the sheiks procure it to stimulate their camels before racing them. All of these rational explanations and mysterious beliefs raise this substance to the level of liquid gold.

	Virginie Vican / Picturetank VIV0145666 The hives are under a jujube tree, protected from the heat by blankets held down with stones.		Virginie Vican / Picturetank VIV0145670 Six weeks after putting the hives at the base of the cliffs in Wadi Dau'an valley, the honey is extracted from the frames and filtered.
	Virginie Vican / Picturetank VIV0145682 Having travelled several nights in a row, the terra cotta hives, which are strapped to the truck, are put on trestles near the tent.		Virginie Vican / Picturetank VIV0145663 In his workshop in the village of Tarim, in the heart of the Hadramawt Valley, a worker takes a terra cotta hive out of the kiln.
	Virginie Vican / Picturetank VIV0145686 Young bee keepers by their tent go about their daily business : lighting the fire...		Virginie Vican / Picturetank VIV0145672 A headscarf wrapped around his head and face is the only protection this bee keeper has against stings. He inspects the honey combs.
	Virginie Vican / Picturetank VIV0145668 Apis Mellifera Yemenitica is the most common species of bee in the Yemen. Each hive contains 25000 bees.		Virginie Vican / Picturetank VIV0145675 Traditional Yemeni hives in wood.
	Virginie Vican / Picturetank VIV0145689 Shibam, often called 'Manhattan of the desert' due to its high rise constructions in mud which keep arable land free, is an architectural marvel in the middle of the Hadramawt desert, cradle of Yemeni bee keeping for the past three thousand years.		Virginie Vican / Picturetank VIV0145678 A beer keeper watches over his stock, kalashnikov in hand. There are roughly 60 million firearms in circulation in the Yemen, and after the States, it is the country with the highest gun ownership rate.
	Virginie Vican / Picturetank VIV0145659 Honey combs are also sold in round metal tins.		Virginie Vican / Picturetank VIV0145649 In Tarim's religious and medical library in Hadramawt, librarians read the Targig Al Hassal (literally "treatment using honey"), a medical book written in 1449 by arabian doctors and researchers.
	Virginie Vican / Picturetank VIV0145656 Honey is brought by the bee keepers to the markets in Hadramawt to be auctioned. Buyers come from all over the Gulf countries, particularly Saudi Arabia to obtain this precious liquid.		Virginie Vican / Picturetank VIV0146674 Shibam, often called 'Manhattan of the desert' due to its high rise constructions in mud which keep arable land free, is an architectural marvel in the middle of the Hadramawt desert, cradle of Yemeni bee keeping for the past three thousand years.
	Virginie Vican / Picturetank VIV0145827 Portrait of a Yemeni teenager.		Virginie Vican / Picturetank VIV0145648 At Al Mukalla, on the coast of the Gulf of Aden, shopkeepers sell honey to wealthy clients. Thier shops are often kitsch with varnished wood panelling and flashy mirrors. A kilo of honey fetches 90 dollars, and 200 dollars when exported.
	Virginie Vican / Picturetank VIV0145691 Night street scenes in the old quarter of Sanaa.		Virginie Vican / Picturetank VIV0145639 There are special shelves for local and foreign honey in supermarkets in Sana'a.
	Virginie Vican / Picturetank VIV0145707 In the kitchen of the luxurious restaurant Al Faquer, in Sanaa, Harish is being prepared. It is a dish made from bulgur which is served with honey poured over it.		Virginie Vican / Picturetank VIV0145705 Thursday is wedding day, where dozens of young men gather for lunch in a suburb of Sanaa, dressed in their traditional jacket, the janbia, with a curved dagger through their waist band. Wedding feasts are the opportunity to taste traditional dishes, among which, Bentassen, flaky pastry dribbled with melted butter and honey.
	Virginie Vican / Picturetank VIV0145646 At Sanaa, shopkeepers sell honey to wealthy clients. Thier shops are often kitsch with varnished wood panelling and flashy mirrors. A kilo of honey fetches 90 dollars, and 200 dollars when exported.		Virginie Vican / Picturetank VIV0145704 Thursday is wedding day, where dozens of young men gather for lunch in a suburb of Sanaa, dressed in their traditional jacket, the janbia, with a curved dagger through their waist band. Wedding feasts are the opportunity to taste traditional dishes, among which, Bentassen, flaky pastry dribbled with melted butter and honey.
	Virginie Vican / Picturetank VIV0145664 Once the honey has been filtered, it is stocked in plastic bottles or pots. At the base of Al Hajjarin, a village in the Wadi Dau'an valley, two bee keepers pour the precious liquid into glass pots.		Virginie Vican / Picturetank VIV0145701 On the roof terrace of the luxury Buj Al Salam hotel, which overlooks Sanaa, honey and ginger are mixed into tea and coffee to sweeten them.
	Virginie Vican / Picturetank VIV0145700 Two young Yemenis eat honey comb, on a boat heading to the banks of Al Mukalla, a village on the coast of the Oman sea.		Virginie Vican / Picturetank VIV0145687 Shibam, often called 'Manhattan of the desert' due to its high rise constructions in mud which keep arable land free, is an architectural marvel in the middle of the Hadramawt desert, cradle of Yemeni bee keeping for the past three thousand years.