Facts about Honey.

Honey is a popular and historically celebrated food in the world. I am sure that every one of us had a chance to taste this delicious, and more importantly natural product before.

What do we know about honey and about its production? If you answer is not enough. Then, these facts about honey will give you the basic knowledge about honey.

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1. Interestingly, honey bees are not the only bees that produce honey. There are also bumblebees, honey wasps and stingless bees that are also capable of producing honey. But, their honey is of lower quality, compared with honey produced by honey bees.

2. Most microorganisms cannot survive in the real honey, because honey is very low on water content. Therefore, most microorganisms die, when they get into the honey.

3. Usage of honey as the food did not start in our modern time. Honey production activities date back to 8000 years. During that time, humans searched for honey in a wilderness. It was part of their hunting activity. To prove this claim, scientists use the cave paintings of Valencia Spain which features the early human getting honey out of beehives.

4. Bees do not produce honey for only humans. It is also the necessary food for themselves, so do not be too selfish. Honeybees eat their stored honey during the cold winter days or whenever their food source is scarce.

5. Honey mostly consists of sugar and it is very low on water, as I mentioned above. Amazingly, honey bees flatter their wings constantly to evaporate water out of honey.

6. Real honey will not ferment, and it has a very long shelf life when it is properly sealed. Therefore, most people see it as food that never spoils. Recent historical discoveries also prove that claim. For instance, archeologists found pots of honey in an ancient Egyptian tomb which dates back to approximately 3000 years. Amazingly, discovered honey was still edible.

There is another report which states that archeologists found jars full of honey in the 170km west of Tbilisi, Armenia. According to the report, its age estimated to be 5500 years old, this means the honey found in Armenia is even 2000 years older than the one found in an ancient Egyptian tomb.

7. Honey which we buy in the markets is clear because it is already processed to remove debris and beeswax.

8. According to the F.A.O data, the whole world produced about 1.8 million tons of honey in 2016, and China as the major honey-producing country in the world produced 27 % of the world’s honey.

9. In order to gather just a pound of honey, honeybees should land 2 million flowers and travel 55000 miles.

10. The most of the commercial honey is mixed (blended), meaning honey coming from various floral sources and different geographical locations are mixed to give a special taste.

11. Honey can be preserved in high quality by placing it in the dry spot. If there is moist air where honey is kept, its hydrophilic properties will pull moisture into the honey.

12. One of the facts about honey relates to its substance. Honey is consists of 82% carbohydrates, and 17% water.  You can learn more about honey substances in here.

13. Adulteration of Honey is one of the problems we face in our modern time. Some companies add cane sugar and corn syrup to make the honey production cheaper. As result, people get cheap adulterated honey. Some people grab that kind of honey unsuspectingly, thinking they are getting pure honey. However, this practice is not something new. Even in ancient times, businessman added flour and some other fillers to increase the quantity of honey.

14. People use honey as a treatment. For instance, some remedies suggest that honey helps to heal the wounds and burnt spots on the skin. It is also used to ease the coughs.

15. Honey can be toxic too if the honey bees gather the nectar from flowers of rhododendrons, mountain laurels, sheep laurel, and azaleas.

These are the brief 15 facts about honey. If you found them helpful and interesting, please share these facts on social media.

If you want to learn interesting facts about honey bees, read it here.