Honey
- For the 2003 movie starring Jessica Alba, see Honey (movie).
- For the 2004 independent film, see Honey (2004 movie).
Honey is a sweet and viscous fluid produced by bees and other insects from the nectar of flowers. The definition of honey stipulates a pure product that does not allow for the addition of any other substance. This includes, but is not limited to, water or other sweeteners." as defined by the National Honey Board 2003.
Honey is actually sweeter than table sugar and has attractive chemical properties for baking. Honey has a distinctive flavor which leads some people to prefer it over sugar and other sweeteners.
Liquid honey does not spoil. Because of its high sugar concentration, it kills bacteria by osmotically lysing them. Natural airborne yeasts cannot become active in it because the moisture content is too low. Natural, raw, honey varies from 14% to 18% moisture content. As long as the moisture content remains under 18%, virtually no organism can successfully multiply to significant amounts in honey.
The study of pollens and spores in raw honey (Melissopalynology) can determine floral sources of honey. Because bees carry an electrostatic charge, and can attract other particles, the same techniques of Melissopalynology can be used in area environmental studies of radioactive particles, dust, or particulate pollution.
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Composition of honey
Honey is mixture of sugars, water, and other compounds. The specific composition of any batch of honey will depend largely on the mix of flowers consumed by the bees that produced the honey. Honey has a density of about 1500 kg/m3 (50% denser than water).
- Typical Honey Analysis
- Source: Sugar Alliance
Types of honey
Main article: Monofloral honey
The flavor and color of the substance is largely determined by the nectar source. Common flavors of honey include orange blossom honey, tupelo honey, buckwheat honey, clover honey, blackberry, and blueberry honey. In Australia, the most common honey is from the eucalyptus trees, such as redgum, yellow gum and stringybark. Tasmanian leatherwood honey is considered a delicacy for its unique flavour. Manuka honey from New Zealand is said by some to have more special healing properties than other honeys, therefore sells at a premium price.
While it is rare for any honey to be produced exclusively from one floral source, honey will take on the flavor of the dominant flower in the region. Orange blossom, tupelo, and sourwood are favored types in the United States. Greece is famous for wild thyme honey, as is France for lavender and acacia honey.
In 2005, New Zealand had 320,000 beehives that produced an average annual crop of 8,600 tonnes of honey. These honeys cover a huge range of flavour types and properties. From mild to very strong flavoured, light to dark coloured, delicately perfumed to pungent and even honeys with significant antibacterial properties.
Most commercially available honey is blended. Monofloral honeys are especially valuable on the market. New Zealand is a major producer of several of these fine monofloral honeys. Viper's Bugloss Honey, Nodding Thistle Honey, Kamahi Honey, Honeydew Honey, Tawari Honey, Rewarewa Honey or Thyme Honey are great examples. Another is Rata Honey, considered by many to be the best of New Zealand Honeys. It is very white in colour, has a subtle, mild yet rich and distinctive flavour – not overly sweet, almost salty.
A main effect of bees collecting nectar to make honey is pollination, which is crucial for flowering plants.
Honeydew
Similar to honey, and usually bottled and sold as honey is honeydew, which is made from the sweet secretions of aphids – most importantly the aphid Marchalina hellenica which feeds on the sap of the Turkish Pine, or other plant sap-sucking insects. Honeydew from pine forests has a "piney" taste and is prized for medicinal use in Europe and Turkey. Bees collecting this resource have to be fed protein supplements, as honeydew lacks the protein-rich pollen accompaniment gathered from flowers.
Other sources state that Honeydew nectar is produced from a small, scale insect (Ultracoelostoma assimile) living in the bark of two of New Zealand's beech forests, mostly black beech (black from the sooty mould growing on the surplus nectar covering the trunks and branches) and to a lesser extent, red beech. In the early morning sunlight, the droplets of nectar glisten like the morning dew, giving the name honeydew. Honeybees gather this nectar to produce honeydew, a process they carry out in many other countries in the World, most notably in Germany's "Black Forest".
Honeydew honey has full flavour aroma, is heady, almost pungent and malty. Its thick red amber colour adds to the very strong flavour experience.
- Source: [1]
Use of honey
The main uses of honey are in cooking, baking, spreading on bread or toast, and as an addition to various beverages such as tea. Because honey is hygroscopic (drawing moisture from the air), a small quantity of honey added to a pastry recipe will retard its becoming stale. Raw honey also contains enzymes that help in its digestion, several vitamins and antioxidants.
Honey is a main ingredient in the beverage, mead, which is also known as "honey wine".
Honey is used in traditional folk medicine and is an excellent natural preservative.
Most vegans consider honey to be an animal product. So they avoid using it, consuming, instead, alternatives such as golden syrup.
It should be noted that without commercial beekeeping, large-scale fruit and vegetable farming and some of the seed industry would be incapable of sustaining themselves since many crops are pollinated by migratory beekeepers who contract their bees for that purpose.
Health benefits
In addition to its use as a sweetener, all honey has antibacterial properties and may be used as a burn and wound dressing. Manuka, a strong tasting monofloral honey from New Zealand, is widely marketed for this attribute.
Honey may also be used in homemade beauty remedies and as an inexpensive anti-acne treatment 1.
Precautions
Honey is not always healthful. Because it is gathered from flowers in the wild, there are situations in which it may be toxic. (See: Grayanotoxin.) Rhododendrons and azaleas have nectar that is poisonous to humans though harmless to bees. The shape of the Azalea flower, however, makes access to nectar difficult for honeybees. And during the time at which Azaleas bloom, there are usually other flowers available which are more appealing to the honeybee. So lethal honey is rarely encountered.
Nonetheless, honey, corn syrup and other sweeteners are a potential and acute threat to infants. Harmless to adults because of a mature person's stomach acidity, botulinum spores are widely present in the environment and are among the few bacteria that survive in honey. But since an infant's digestive juices are non-acidic, ingestion of honey creates an ideal medium for botulinum spores to grow and produce sufficient levels of toxins to cause infant botulism. For this reason, it is advised that neither honey, nor any other sweetener, be given to children under the age of 18 months. Once a child is eating solid food, the digestive juices are acidic enough to prevent the growth of the spores.
Also, sweeteners should not be fed to a puppy as this can cause her/him to go into a "sugar high". The sugar crash that follows may result in the loss of consciousness or even death. Consult a veterinarian immediately if your puppy ingests a sweetener.
Honey formation
In the hive there are three major classifications of bees: 1 queen bee, up to 200 drone bees and some 20,000 to 80,000 worker bees. The primary task of the worker bee is collection of honey. In a typical day, the worker bee will go out and collect sucrose-rich flower nectar, then bring it back to the hive. As it leaves the flower, the bee releases nasonov pheromones. This allows many other bees to find their way to the site by smell. Honeybees also release nasonov pheromones at the entrance to the hive, which facilitates all workers returning to the proper hive. Once back, the bees regurgitate the nectar a sufficient number of times so that it is partially digested. It is then stored in the honeycomb. Nectar, as collected from a flower, is high in both water content and natural yeasts, which could cause it to ferment. After the final regurgitation, the bees "fan" their wings inside the hive creating a strong draught which evaporates much of the water from the nectar. The reduction in water content raises sugar concentration sufficiently to prevent fermentation. Removed from the hive by the beekeeper and sold both with or without portions of the honeycomb, here is a product with a great taste, long shelf life, and one which neither ferments nor turns rancid. People and bears, incidentally, are not the only creatures who enjoy the stuff: In cold weather and other times when alternative food sources are not available, bees use honey as their sole source of nutrition.
Mead, (a wine made from honey) begins with this same process. But, in addition, in order to create the alcoholic content, the wild yeasts are normally removed by boiling while a wine-grade yeast is added to start the fermentation.
Honey as a product
Comb honey
This is a popular honey product. Instead of processing, the honey is harvested still in the wax comb.
Other forms of honey
- Blended Honey A homogeneous mixture of two or more honeys differing in floral source, color, flavor, density or geographic origin.
- Churned Honey See whipped honey.
- Cremed Honey See whipped honey
- Crystallized Honey Honey in which part of the natural glucose content has spontaneously crystallized from solution as the monohydrate. Also called "Granulated Honey."
- Filtered Honey Honey processed by filtration to remove extraneous solids and pollen grains.
- Honey Fondant See whipped honey.
- Organic Honey Honey produced, processed, and packaged in accordance with State and Federal regulations on honey and organic products, and certified by a State Department of Agriculture or an independent organic farming certification organization.
- Raw Honey Honey as it exists in the beehive or as obtained by extraction, settling or straining without adding heat.
- Spun Honey See whipped honey.
- Strained Honey Honey which has been passed through a mesh material to remove particulate material (pieces of wax, propolis, other defects) without removing pollen.
Related Topics
Categories: Spreads | Sweeteners | Bees | Beekeeping