Just a Spoon Full of Honey...

What Is Honey?  

Honey is a sweet natural substance produced by bees. It is mainly a compostion of different sugars depending on the floral source (79%) and water (17%).  

The beekeeper’s job is only to collect it and extract it from the frames. Nothing is added or eliminated.  

But How Do They Make It?  

Bees collect nectar from blossoms. Nectar is liquid, so bees store it in a kind of pouch called the honey stomach. It is closed by a valve that prevents the nectar to go any further in the digestive system unless needed. In this stomach, nectar is mixed with other bee substances, like an enzyme called « glucose oxidase ». This enzyme reacts to glucose and creates an antibacterial effect on the nectar.  

Once the bee reaches the hive, nectar is passed on from bee to bee- therefore from honey stomach to honey stomach, until it arrives where it can be stored. But nectar is full of water and very liquid, it can ferment  and it takes a lot of space. Bees solve this problem by dehydrating it. They do this by ventilating it with their wings. Once water concentration reaches 17%, it takes up  a lot less space and is stabilized; it will not ferment. Bees then cap the cells- this is like putting it in jars to keep for rainy or cold days.

Properties of Honey  

Hard or soft?
Most honeys eventually crystallize. Its rate of crystallization depends on its glucose-fructose ratio, which depends on the floral source. The higher its content in glucose, the faster it will crystallize. That is the case of colza or clover honey.  Beekeepers have less than a week to collect it before it crystalizes (it’s much much harder to extract if it crystalizes on the frame). On the  contrary, acacia honey is mostly fructose and can stay liquid for more than a year.  

Taste
Taste of honey varies enormously from one kind to the next. It can be very mild like acacia honey, or very strong like chestnut or pine honey. Even if bees collect nectar in the same area each year, the taste will be slightly different: Mother Nature never repeats quite exactly the same weather which directly effects each blossom.

Colour
The colour of honey simply varies depending on the nectar source. Colza, rawsberry or lavander honey are almost white. Dandilion honey is bright yellow like the flower. Pine honey is very dark.  

In some countries, the colour of honey affects its price. In the USA for example, very light colored honey is considered « better quality » so it’s more expensive. In Germany, it’s the contrary: the darker, the better. In the end the colour is no quality indicator, but it can hint you on its taste: most dark honeys taste stronger.

Antibacterial Quality
Honey is hyper-osmotic (it absorbs water). This prevents bacterial or yeast growth as it litteraly sucks them dry. Honey is also very acid, making it uninviting to most bacterias.  

Honeydew
Honeydew is different from regular honey because bees get it from aphid secretions as they feed on plant’s sap. Ants also love to feed on this. They sometimes raise colonies of aphids just to feed on their secretions, but that’s a whole different story... This liquid is still plant-derived but has insect enzymes added to it and generally has a broader spectrum of sugars. Its colour is often very dark.  

Advantages of Honey  

Honey has a prebiotic effect on human body, stimulating general growth. It also has an antibacterial effect; it can heal open infected wounds, burns and even ulcers. Some researchs show that it can prevent certain types of cancer (especially dark honeys).  

Each type of monofloral honey has its own personnal effects. Orange honey calms and soothes. Limetree honey helps fall asleep. Lavander honey is an excellent antiseptic for bronchial tubes and lungs. Eucalyptus honey calms coughs. Acacia honey is recommended for gastric ulcers. Of course, multi-flower honey is more complete and has multitude of benefits for our bodies.

Why Is Honey Made In China So Much Cheaper and Not As Healthy As Local Honey?  

The first reason is obvious for many of us: labor is cheap. But that is not the only reason. Cheap labor explains low cost but not why it’s not as healthy as local honey. The answer is provided by what the bees are fed: sugar. In order to produce almost all year round, beekeepers feed their bees regular sugar. Sugar isn’t as complexe and rich as nectar, therefore creating a honey of lesser quality. Even worse: some honeys are directly diluted with a sugar sirop, so in the end your bottle of honey only has a small amount of real honey and a lot of sugar and water. All this is completely forbidden in France and many other countries.

In the end you pay less to get less, plus you contribute to modern slavery (these people cannot improve their salaries or way of life as long as we keep buying these low cost products), and to Global Warming (planes generate a lot of CO2).  

In Conclusion  

Honey is a wonderful product that is not only yummy, but can also help you heal and prevent some illnesses. Mary Poppins said a spoon full of sugar helps the medecine go down, but a spoon full of honey is medecine... now you know better!