Petrified honey?

Travelling in Yunnan, China (near Gonshan) this summer I came across a man selling what appeared to be honey, crystallised into a hard, solid mass. Mandarin, Cantonese or Tibetan, was unable to ask the gentleman questions about its origins.

My questions are:

- Can honey mineralize or petrify?

- Are there any accounts of similar phenomena?— What else might this material be?

Thank you for any assistance in solving this mystery

Albie Miles, Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, University of California Santa Cruz, USA