Jara is a traditional beehive that has been used since ancient times for domesticating bees in Georgia.

There is no evidence for when exactly Jara appeared. However, several local folktales note that ancient inhabitants found the bees in a tree hollow that they called this place in the forest ‘the bee tree’. Later, locals understood that the ‘bee trees’ could be replicated. They collected swarms of wild bees and settled them into hollowed wooden logs and then placed them high up in trees to protect them from bears. Such wooden logs were called Jara. After the invention of frame beehives in the 19th century, Jara hives were increasingly replaced by modern beehives. But there are still few places in Western Georgia where Jara hives are still used to make the wild honey Jara.    

What Makes Jara Honey Special?

Jara honey is a very rare top-quality organic wild honey found in Georgia. It is 100% pure and wild.

Wild beekeeping techniques are rare these days, but Georgia is one of the few places in the world that has preserved wild beekeeping in remote dwellings located in the subtropical and alpine zones of Western Georgia. Here, only a ten dozen beekeepers continue the difficult but ancient tradition of the domestication of wild bees – which is an excellent example of mutually useful coexistence of wild nature and humans.

Jara hives provide an opportunity to create true and uniquely flavoured wild honey through the replication of the tree hollow concept – the natural home of wild bees, without artificial wax and free from the involvement of beekeepers. Jara honey is also served with the honeycomb. This is top-quality honey produced from wild flowers, earning a place of honour on your table.

Who inhabits Jara?

Caucasian Mountain Grey Bees (Apis Melifara Caucasica) inhabit Jara hives.

Georgia is the homeland of the well-known Caucasian Grey Bee. Georgia’s complex climate has paved the way to the evolution of the breed. At an average length of 7.2 millimeters, over half a millimeter longer than that of other honeybees, the Caucasian bee’s tongue can reach nectar that its competitors cannot. This trait coupled with a propensity to fly earlier, later, and in cooler conditions, its high resistance and its docility, results in a bee that is well known for its outstanding ability to obtain nectar from more types of flowers and in larger volumes.

How Jara Honey is Harvested?

The Jara hive is harvested only once in a year mainly at the beginning of the autumn after the ending of the flowering period.

Harvesting honey from a Jara hive is much more difficult and labor-intensive than common frame beehives. The process requires special preparation. As a rule, honey from a Jara is harvested by two people. However, additional support is needed for a Jara hive placed in a tree or on a rock. Beekeepers use special instruments such as oval knives, smokers, ropes, balancers (Kombali), pulleys (Makhara), and branch-ladders (Ghja) for harvesting honey. First the beekeeper opens and observes the hive inside to understand whether it is possible to harvest honey. If there is enough honey, the beekeeper cuts honeycomb from half of the hive and does not touch the other half where the bee colony brood is located. Honeycomb can be different in color as it contains the honey from different plants and flowers such as the acacia, chestnut, linden and a vast number of alpine flowers.