Kikar Honey: The Acacia Honey of Wastarwan and Ramban, Explained

The white-flowered kikar is the valley's main honey tree, and the honey it gives is the one India sells as acacia or white honey. Where ours comes from, how it is made, and what to ask any seller.

By Mudasir Hashmat Wani, saffron grower in Pampore

1 November 2026 · 9 min read

Kikar honey is Kashmir’s acacia honey: raw honey from the white kikar bloom, which in the valley is Robinia pseudoacacia (false acacia, black locust), the tree behind Europe’s acacia honey. Ours comes from our Kikar forests of Wastarwan and Ramban, never heated and coarse-sieved, at ₹450 for a 500 g jar. Pale, mild and slow to set, it is the honey often sold as Kashmiri white honey, and the honey we steep our saffron in. Here is what the tree is, why the word kikar means two trees in India, where our forests are, how the honey is made, and what to check before you buy.

Kikar: the tree behind Kashmir’s acacia honey

Smoke, then the lid: a hive opened under the white kikar bloom.

In the Kashmir valley the tree called kikar, or kikur, is Robinia pseudoacacia (false acacia, black locust). It is not a true acacia at all but a North American tree, planted along the valley’s roads and hillsides for about a century, and today its most abundant deciduous tree. It flowers in April–May, each tree for about a week to ten days, in hanging white clusters that are heavy with nectar, and Kashmir’s beekeepers say it gives most of the honey they extract. A peer-reviewed study of Kashmir’s acacia honey, sampled in Pulwama, Srinagar and Budgam, found it 54–60% kikar pollen.

The same tree is the source of the acacia honey that Hungary, Italy and France are known for, which is why “Kashmiri acacia honey” is an honest label and not a borrowed one. “White honey” describes the colour; it is not a grade. Our white honey guide covers that side of the story.

Kikar, babool, acacia: one word, two trees

Walk down to the plains of Jammu, Punjab or Rajasthan and “kikar” means a different tree: Vachellia nilotica (babool), the thorny babool with yellow pom-pom flowers and grey pods. It is a true acacia, it is a recognised bee-forage tree, and its honey is sold as kikar honey or babool honey too. But it grows from sea level to about 1,300 m, and the Kashmir valley floor sits at about 1,600 m, so a jar of kikar honey from the valley cannot be babool honey. The two names got tangled because both trees are thorny-looking legumes with a folk name in common.

What this means for a buyer: ask which tree and which place. A pale, mild, slow-setting honey from a named Kashmir forest is the false-acacia kind; a darker, stronger plains honey under the same name is the babool kind. Neither is fake; they are different honeys.

Where our kikar honey comes from

Wastarwan (also spelt Wasturwan and Wasterwan) is the forested range between Pampore, Tral and Awantipora in Pulwama district. Kikar grows on its lower slopes; above it stand kail pine, ash, maple and birch, and on top are rolling meadows where Gujjar and Bakerwal families graze their herds in summer. Maharaja Hari Singh’s old hunting ground, Shikargah, sits at its foot on the Tral side, 2,130 m up. Our saffron fields are on the Pampore karewas below the same range, so the honey and the saffron come from one corner of the valley. Tral is one of Pulwama’s beekeeping centres, and Pulwama was the third-largest honey-producing district of Jammu and Kashmir in 2023–24.

A capped frame: the bees have sealed ripe honey under a skin of wax.

Ramban is a district of Jammu and Kashmir in the Chenab valley, on the Jammu–Srinagar national highway roughly midway between the two cities. It is lower and warmer than the Kashmir valley, nearly three-fifths of its catchment is forest, and it is a honey district in its own right: the second-largest producer in Jammu and Kashmir in 2023–24, with more than 470 beekeepers and a GI tag on its white sulai honey. The kikar on its slopes gives our second forest. Our Ramban honey is kikar honey, not the GI-tagged sulai.

How kikar honey is made

The hives stand in the bloom through April and May. Capped frames are lifted, uncapped with a knife over a tray, and spun in a hand-cranked steel extractor; the honey runs to the tap, passes through a coarse sieve that catches flecks of wax and leaves the pollen and aroma, settles for a few days so the foam rises, and is bottled from the tap. Nothing is heated above the temperature of the hive, nothing is fine-filtered, and nothing is added. The whole run, frame by frame, is on our Kashmiri acacia honey page.

Coarse-sieved only: wax stays in the mesh, pollen and aroma pass through.

What kikar honey looks and tastes like, and why it stays runny

Pale gold, almost clear in the jar; mild, clean and floral, with a weak scent of the blossom, a medium-to-strong sweetness and no bitterness. Kashmir’s acacia honey measures as extra light amber; the European reference honey from the same tree is water-white. Both are fructose-rich: the European honey averages about 42.7 g of fructose to 26.5 g of glucose per 100 g, against about 40.9 g to 35.7 g in honey generally. Honey sets when its glucose crystallises, so a honey with less glucose stays liquid longer, and acacia honey can stay liquid for three to four years. It is not a sign of heating or syrup. If a jar does set, stand it sealed in warm water for fifteen to twenty minutes; never boil or microwave it.

Kikar honey compared with the other honeys of Jammu and Kashmir
Honey	Bloom and season	Colour and taste	Sets?
Kikar (acacia) — ours	Robinia pseudoacacia, Kashmir valley, April–May	Pale gold; mild, floral	Very slowly
Saffron honey — ours	The same kikar honey, steeped with Mongra saffron	Deep gold with threads; floral and warm	Very slowly
Mustard (sarson)	Brassica fields, spring in the valley and winter in the plains	Pale yellow; quick, plain sweetness	Within weeks
Sulai (Ramban, GI-tagged)	Plectranthus rugosus shrub, August–October	White; mild	Fairly quickly
Babool (plains kikar)	Vachellia nilotica, monsoon in the plains	Darker; stronger	Varies
Multifloral and forest	Mixed wild bloom, spring to autumn	Amber to dark; strong	Varies

What kikar honey costs

Ours is ₹450 for a 500 g jar, which is a ₹900 a kilo rate; we sell the 500 g jar only, so two jars make a kilo, and the same honey with half a gram of our saffron steeped in it is ₹649 for 500 g. Kashmir press puts the valley’s acacia honey at roughly ₹800–1,200 a kilo, against ₹400–500 for mustard honey brought in from the plains and ₹300–500 for blended table honey on a supermarket shelf. A “Kashmiri acacia honey” at plains-mustard prices is worth a question about which bloom and which place.

How to check kikar honey

No kitchen test proves honey is genuine; the water, thumb and flame tests measure thickness, and kikar honey is naturally runny, so it fails the ones that reward a thick syrup. What you can check is the label and the source: an ingredient line that says honey and nothing else, a named bloom, place and season, an FSSAI number you can look up, and honey that behaves like raw honey in your cupboard. Only a laboratory test on the batch settles the rest; our guide to how to check original honey explains what the laboratory measures and why the home tests mislead.

Kikar honey and health, honestly

Honey is a sugar with a good flavour, not a medicine. By USDA’s typical values it is about 82.1 g of sugars per 100 g, roughly 21 kcal a teaspoon, so a spoon counts as sugar in your diet; if you are managing diabetes or blood sugar, ask your doctor. Raw honey keeps the pollen, enzymes and aroma that heating destroys, which is a difference in quality, not a treatment for anything. Never give honey of any kind to a baby under 12 months. Everything else people say about honey belongs to the seller’s imagination, and we do not say it. The spoon-by-spoon figures are in honey calories; our other honeys and the price per kilo are on the Kashmiri honey page.

Sources

Honoured by leaders & the press

PM Narendra ModiWith our Pampore saffron

Former PM Manmohan SinghReceiving our saffron

With Rahul GandhiSaffron growers' interaction

The Indian ArmyAt our saffron fields

Sikkim CM Prem Singh TamangHonoured in his presence

VAIGA award, KeralaFrom the Agriculture Minister

National pressSaffron, a GoI priority

See all recognition Order on WhatsApp

Kikar honey — FAQs

What is kikar honey?

Honey from the kikar bloom. In the Kashmir valley kikar is Robinia pseudoacacia, the white-flowered false acacia that lines the valley's roads and hillsides and flowers in April–May; its honey is pale, mild and slow to set, and is sold as acacia honey or white honey. Ours comes from our Kikar forests of Wastarwan and Ramban, raw and never heated.

Is kikar honey the same as acacia honey?

In Kashmir, yes. The valley's kikar is the false acacia, the same tree behind Europe's acacia honey, so kikar honey, Kashmiri acacia honey and white honey describe one honey. The caution is the plains, where "kikar" and "babool" name a different, yellow-flowered thorn tree whose honey is darker and stronger.

Is kikar honey the same as babool honey?

Not when the jar is from Kashmir. Babool is Vachellia nilotica, a plains tree with yellow pom-pom flowers that grows up to about 1,300 m and does not reach the valley; Kashmir's kikar is the white-flowered false acacia, which grows at 1,600–2,200 m. Plains sellers use kikar and babool for the same tree, which is where the two names get tangled.

When is kikar honey harvested in Kashmir?

After the spring bloom. The kikar flowers in April–May in the Kashmir valley, each tree for about a week to ten days, and the bees fill and cap the frames over the few weeks the bloom lasts. The capped frames are uncapped and spun once they are ready, and the honey settles before bottling. Unseasonal rain in those weeks can cut the crop badly.

Why does kikar honey not crystallise?

Because it is fructose-rich. Honey sets when its glucose crystallises; European acacia honey measures about 42.7 g of fructose to 26.5 g of glucose per 100 g, against about 41 g to 36 g in honey generally, and can stay liquid for three to four years. It does set eventually, slowly; stand the sealed jar in warm water and it pours again.

What does kikar honey taste like?

Mild, clean and floral, with a weak scent of the blossom itself, a medium-to-strong sweetness and no bitterness. Kashmir's acacia honey measures as extra light amber; the European reference honey is water-white. It sweetens tea, curd and bread without taking over, which is why it is the honey we steep our saffron in.

What is the price of kikar honey per kg?

Ours is ₹450 for a 500 g jar, a ₹900 a kilo rate; we sell the 500 g jar only, so two jars make a kilo. Kashmir press puts the valley's acacia honey at roughly ₹800–1,200 a kilo, against ₹400–500 for mustard honey from the plains and ₹300–500 for blended table honey. Free delivery on orders of ₹3,000 and above.

Where is Wastarwan?

Wastarwan, also spelt Wasturwan and Wasterwan, is the forested range between Pampore, Tral and Awantipora in Pulwama district, in the Kashmir valley. Kikar grows on its lower slopes, kail pine, ash, maple and birch above, and meadows on top above 2,000 m. Our saffron fields lie on the Pampore karewas below it.

Is Ramban honey the same as kikar honey?

Not always. Ramban, a district in the Chenab valley midway along the Jammu–Srinagar highway, is best known for its GI-tagged sulai honey, a white honey from a wild shrub that flowers from August to October; acacia and mustard are its other nectar sources. Our Ramban honey is from the kikar on its slopes, and it is not sold under the sulai GI tag.

Is kikar honey good for health?

It is a sugar with a good flavour, not a medicine. Honey is about 82 g of sugars per 100 g by USDA's typical values, so a spoon counts as sugar in your diet; if you are managing diabetes or blood sugar, ask your doctor. Raw honey keeps pollen, enzymes and aroma that heating destroys, which is a difference in quality, not a treatment for anything.

Can babies have kikar honey?

No. No honey of any kind should be given to a child under 12 months old, because honey can carry spores that cause infant botulism; the NHS and the CDC both say so. Older children can have it as food, the way they would have any honey.

Keep reading

Who wrote this

The Heritage Kashmir is a brand of the Pampore Saffron Farmers Producer Company — a saffron-growing family in Pampore, Jammu & Kashmir, working our own fields rather than buying from a mandi. FSSAI licence 11022470000019, printed so you can look it up rather than take our word for it.

Our saffron and our growers have been received at the Directorate of Agriculture Kashmir, at national agricultural events, and by visiting dignitaries — thirty photographs of it, with dates and names, are on our recognition page. Evidence, not adjectives.

Grown, hand-sorted and sealed by our family in Pampore.

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