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Harris County Beekeepers Association |
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To make a pound of honey, honey bees must forage nectar from millions of flowers.
Aristotle called honey, the “nectar of the gods”. Honey is very likely the world's most ancient sweetener and has been in use throughout the world across the millennia. Honey's popularity and versatility is evident from the variety of uses it has enjoyed throughout history. From ancient times, honey has not only been used as a sweetener but as a natural beauty agent and has been employed by some cultures for its medicinal attributes, and even to pay taxes! |
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There are several different categories of honey—comb honey, liquid honey, creamed honey and chunk honey. Comb honey is honey-filled beeswax comb direct from the hive as stored naturally by the bees. Liquid honey is prepared by cutting off the wax cappings and whirling the comb in a honey extractor, where centrifugal force moves the honey out of the honey comb. Creamed honey is made by blending one part finely granulated honey with nine parts liquid honey. The mixture is stored at about 57 degrees until it becomes firm. And chunk honey is a piece of comb honey in a jar with liquid honey poured around it. |
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There are more than 300 unique types of honey available in the U. S., each originating from a different floral source. The color and flavor of honeys differ depending on the nectar source (the blossoms) visited by the honey bees. Honey color ranges from nearly colorless to dark brown, and its flavor varies from very mild to distinctively bold, depending on where the honey bees foraged. As a general rule, light-colored honey is milder in taste and dark-colored honey is stronger. Dark colored honey typically has more antioxidant properties than lighter colored honey. |
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Cooking with honey is an excellent alternative to using refined sugar; however cooking with honey can be a challenge because it is in a liquid state rather than granular—you need to compensate for this factor. Much information is available on the Internet regarding cooking with honey, storing honey, honey usage, and recipes using honey. |
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Honey |
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Honey not only tastes good, it is good for you! Research has shown that although honey is composed mainly of carbohydrates and water, it contains traces of several vitamins and minerals, including niacin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium and zinc. It also contains small amounts certain compounds that act as antioxidants, which are key to eliminating cancer-causing free radicals in humans. Honey is easier to digest than regular sugar and does not stimulate the body’s secretion of insulin to the same degree as regular sugar. Honey should never be given to infants under one year of age! |