HONEY… It’s a sweet, golden liquid, created by bees, a marvellous gift from nature, as it were, when one considers the many benefits it offers.
Honeybees, arguably nature’s hardest workers, are pivotal in the mass-production of this precious substance. They extract nectar from plants and flowers through their long, tube-shaped tongues, storing it in their extra stomachs, where it mixes with enzymes that transform its chemical composition and pH, making it more suitable for long-term storage.
Back at the hive, it passes the nectar to another bee by regurgitating the liquid into the other bee’s mouth, repeating the process until the partially digested nectar is finally deposited into a honeycomb.
From there, the busy bees set to work fanning the honeycomb with their wings in an effort to speed up the process of evaporation to get all the extra water out. When most of the water has evaporated, the bee seals the comb with a secretion of liquid from its abdomen, which eventually hardens into beeswax.
- Pure, raw honey contains vitamins, minerals and enzymes not present in refined honey, as well as flavonoids and antioxidants, which help reduce the risk of some cancers and heart disease.
- Research shows that honey treatment may help disorders such as ulcers and bacterial gastroenteritis, as well as being a great treatment for reducing a cough and sore throat. Honey’s exact combination of fructose and glucose also helps the body to regulate blood sugar levels.
- It is speculated that the drying effect of the simple sugars in honey and its antibacterial nature combine to make honey as effective in treating external wounds as other conventional treatments. Studies have shown honey to be very successful in healing wounds.
- Honey was a conventional therapy in fighting infection up until the early 20th century and has regained popularity in recent times due to its apparent efficacy in fighting serious skin infections.
- In the right conditions, honey can be stored indefinitely.
Click here to read some sweet facts about the hardworking honeybee.
Also read: How you can keep your garden abuzz with bees.
