Honey is a pure organic form of sugar which contains a highly complex mixture of carbohydrates, enzymes, amino acids, organic acids, minerals, vitamins, aromatic substances, pigments and waxes. It is a sweetener that is made naturally by bees for their own use, using nectar from flowers.
Honey has been used both as a food and as a medicine since the ancient times. The practice of beekeeping to make honey is known as “Apiculture”. It dates as far back to at least 700BC. Honey was praised for being wonderfully sweet and it was also a rarity. Some of it’s uses back then was for use in ceremonies and unusually embalming the deceased. Honey was also used for a variety of medicinal and cosmetic purposes. In the early days, honey’s use in cooking was considered only for the wealthy as it was an expense that only they could afford. Once refined sugar became more widely available, honey went out of favour, due to the fact that refined sugar was a relatively inexpensive form of sweetening. As the popularity grew with the refined sugars honey became displaced by sugar for culinary advantages. Since then, although honey still gets used for sweetening, much of its use has been used for medicinal purposes and its use in confectionary. The process of making honey starts as soon as the nectar is collected by bees from flowers. The nectar once it’s in the bees mouth combines with special enzymes in the bee’s saliva, which turns it into honey. The bees carry honey back to the hive, where they deposit it into the tiny cells of the hive’s walls. The flapping of their wings provides necessary air to limit the honeys moisture content, making it ready to eat. Before the turn of modern medicine, traditional methods of healing using foods and herbs were a big thing. In particular one remedy being the natural concoction of honey and lemon - a traditional mixture that is used to ease sore throats. The lemon juice in this combination makes sense as lemons contain vitamin C which is known to have immune stimulating and anti-infective effects in the body. When it comes to the honey side it is a known fact that it was used as a natural healing method dating back to ancient Egyptian times. Scientific research has found that the application of honey can aide in resolving a variety of wounds such as burns, the ability to starve off wound infections, reduce inflammation and healing. I like to use honey as it is a natural sweetener better for the body and is full of natural healing nutrients for both inside and outside of the body. Honey is also a natural source of energy for the whole body. |
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November 2023
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