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Honey is a
natural, unrefined sweet fluid produced by honey bees from the nectar
of flowers. It is 25 per cent sweeter than sugar because of its
high fructose content. As a refined -sugar substitute,
honey can sweeten food with fewer calories than sugar. Honey is
a safe and wholesome food for older children and adults, but
should not be fed to infants less than one year of age.
There's more to
honey than just sweetness!
 As with the better vintage wines, there is an incredible
array of flavours of honey depending on the flowers visited and
the region of origin. The sweet honeydew (from trees) or nectar
(from flowers) that is gathered by the bees, stored and matured
in the hive and processed carefully by the beekeeper gives each
honey its specific flavours, strength or mildness, colour and
consistency.
Honey is well known as nature's sweetener, but it has also
been prized for thousands of years for its valuable therapeutic
and medicinal uses.
- Physicians in ancient Rome used honey to help their patients
fall asleep.
- Hippocrates, the Green physician, praised honey's healing
powers and formulated many honey based cures for ailments like
skin disorders, ulcers and sores.
- The ancient Egyptians used honey to treat cataracts, open
wounds, cuts and burns.
- In World War I, German doctors used honey
mixed with
cod liver oil to surgically dress soldiers' wounds sustained in
battle.
- For many years, opera singers have used honey to
boost their
energy and soothe their throats prior to a performance.
Of recent
interest is the antioxidant content of honey. Honey contains a
variety of flavonoids and phenolic acids, which act as
antioxidants, scavenging and eliminating free radicals. But
honey's health benefits don't stop there! It also has
antibacterial properties. When diluted honey is applied directly
to a moist wound, it produces hydrogen peroxide, an anti-bacterial
agent.
Canada has many
varieties of honey, the most common of which comes from the
nectar of clover. Other delicious varieties are produced
from the nectar of canola, alfalfa, blueberries, sunflowers,
fruit trees and wildflowers.
For
more information on other hive products, please click here.
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