Honey, a Unique Food

Honey is the only food that we enjoy today that is unchanged from that which was eaten by our caveman ancestors. Honey is a unique food produced by a very unique insect, and is the only food provided to man by an insect. The honey bee is the only insect in the temperate region that remains alive and active throughout the year. It stays active through the winter by eating honey, a high-energy food, and generating body heat in their flight muscles. The honey bee is the only insect that can regulate its body temperature.

Honey is produced by bees from the nectar of flowers. To produce one pound of honey, the bees must visit two million flowers and fly the combined distance of 55,000 miles, more than twice the distance around the earth. To place a tablespoon of honey on a hot, buttered biscuit requires the full life’s work of 32 honey bees. Raw honey is unprocessed and unchanged from the way it was produced by the bees. It is maintained at temperatures encountered in the bee hive. Honey is the only unprocessed food that does not spoil at room temperatures. Store honey on the table top, not in the refrigerator. All honey forms crystals of sugar over time, because some of the sugars that comprise honey are stable in the crystal form. Crystallization of honey does not damage its taste or quality. If you want to re-liquefy the honey, place the jar in a pan of hot water off of the stove with the cap removed. Never heat the honey in a microwave oven. You may be able to detect a difference in taste, aroma, and color of each jar of honey. That is because honey is concentrated flower nectar, and it varies according to the flowers that were in bloom at the time it was produced by the bees. Enjoy honey and visit http://www.honey.com/ for recipes, honey health studies, and tips for using honey in baking.
--Richard