Honey

Types Of Honey

Honey comes in many varieties. Different types of flowers produce different types of nectar, which, in turn, produce different types of honey.

The color and flavor of honey differ depending on the nectar source (the blossoms) visited by the honey bees. The color ranges from nearly colorless to dark brown. The flavor varies from delicately mild to distinctively bold, depending on where the honey bees collected the nectar from.

Some popular types of honey include:

Blueberry Honey
Alfalfa Honey
Lavender Honey
Orange Blossom Honey

How Do Bees Make Honey?

Flowers need bees to transfer pollen from one flower to another flower of the same species in order to reproduce. To entice bees to do this work, flowers produce nectar. As the bee pushes into the blossom to extract the nectar, the flowers cover the bee with pollen that it deposits on the next flower.

A bee flies from flower to flower sipping the nectar from flower blossoms, collecting the nectar in a special pouch in its body called a honey bag. The honey bag holds the sweet, thick nectar the bees collect. In this pouch, the sugar and nectar break down the nectar by a process called inversion into two simple sugars: laevulose and dextrose.

After collecting the nectar, the bees fly back to the hive. The bees store the nectar they have collected in tiny, hexagonal containers, called cells. After the honeybees deposit the nectar in the hive, most of the water evaporates and the liquid becomes thick. With the addition of enzymes the bees produce, the liquid becomes honey.

How Do We Get Honey?

In the past, honey was sold in the honeycomb. Shoppers bought the honeycomb - the little waxy cells - and the honey was held inside.

Today, commercial producers of honey separate the honey from the honeycomb by placing the honeycombs in an extractor. The extractor spins the honeycombs at a high rate of speed, forcing the honey to flow out.
The producers then bottle and sell the honey in airtight containers, which keeps the honey fresh for many months.

The flowers give the bees the nectar, the bees transform the nectar into honey, and we get to enjoy natures' natural sweetener.

Benefits Of Honey

Honey is basically sugar. It is a combination of the simple sugars fructose and glucose. It also contains water, pollen, organic acids, enzymes and various proteins.

Bees pre-digest the glucose and fructose they use to produce the honey. The simple sugars in honey are quickly and easily absorbed in the human digestive tract.

Honey is a health food in the sense that bees filter out environmental toxins. Unlike many foods we eat, honey does not contain growth hormones, pesticides or chemicals.

Honey contains only slight traces of residues from industrial emission, auto exhaust, and agricultural chemicals because bees act as a biological filter.

Honey, natures' soother, is more than just sweet. Honey contains antioxidants and, although in amounts, a wide variety of vitamins, minerals and amino acids. Honey contributes to a persons' overall intake of recommended nutrients. Honey is also a rich source of carbohydrates, which provides a quick source of energy.

Honey has been found to sooth sore throats. Mixed in orange, grapefruit or lemon juice, it increases the Vitamin C level. Eaten regularly, not just when colds and flu strike, makes good nutritional sense. Darker honeys also tend to have a high mineral content and antioxidant potential.

However, honey should not be fed to infants under the age of one year old.

Storing Honey

Honey is hygroscopic. A hygroscopic substance is one that absorbs water readily from its surroundings.
It is important to keep honey in a sealed container when not in use to minimize contact with water vapor in the air. Honey that absorbs water will spoil.
Store honey at room temperature.
A dispenser makes using the honey more convenient and reduces the chances of crystallization.

Avoiding Crystallization

Crystallization occurs when liquid honey becomes cloudy and seems solid.
This can make it difficult to pour.
Crystallization is not harmful and does not mean the honey has gone bad.
Crystallization is a natural state of most honeys.
Crystallization occurs as a function of time and of the combination of the particular sugars in your honey.
To help prevent crystallization, avoid storing honey in cold cupboards or in the refrigerator.
To return your honey to a liquid state, place your honey container in a double boiler, which allows the water to rise high around the container.
Next, heat the water to about 49° C. Remove the container when the honey has liquefied. Avoid prolonged high heat beyond what is necessary to re-liquify your honey, as this can shorten the life of the honey text.