THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: How expensive can honey get? You just have to walk into the weekl ong honey-dates festival organised by the Prakruthi Arogya Samrakshana Vichara Vedi to find out. The Coorg honey, supposedly the best in the Indian market in terms of flavour, will burn a hole through the wallet with one litre costing as much as Rs 1,500.Also on the expensive side is the small bee honey or ‘cheruthen’ from Kottoor, which is sought after for its medicinal value.The other crowd-pullers at the fest are the yummy honey-dates juice which costs Rs 30 per cup, the mango-honey combo juice and grapes-honey juice which cost Rs 25 a cup. The dates ‘payasam’ for Rs 20 a cup also has many takers.A surprise at the stall is the honey soap, the exact ingredients of which is a trade secret, say the manufacturers, AS Industries, a sub-unit of the Kerala Grama Honey Centre from Vattappara, in the city suburbs. The soap that costs Rs 20 a piece is selling like hot cakes. Sherly Anil of AS Industries says so far nearly 700 soaps have been sold.Twenty-three varieties of dates are on display at the festival, of which 22 are foreign varieties. From the ‘Rajasthan’ dates in India to the Al-Quassimi from Saudi, the dates are imported from four other nations, Oman, Iraq, Kuwait and Iran.Al-Quassimi dates are available at Rs 460 and Rs 500. According to Ishak T, secretary, Prakruthi Arogya Samrakshana Vichara Vedi, Al- Barari dates from Oman, costing Rs 280 per kg, are a favourite among customers. “People have started demanding dates by their names. This shows they have created a huge impact among the consumers,’’ he adds.Among the value-added products is the collection of 15 varieties of halwas at the fair.
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