- A single honey bee may collect 1/12 teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.
- The honeybee is not born knowing how to make honey; the younger bees are taught by the more experienced ones.
- How many flowers does a honey bee visit during one collection trip? 50-100.
- The honey bee is the only insect that produces food eaten by man.
- "Eat honey, my son, for it is good." - King Solomon (Proverbs 24:13)
- Honey lasts for ever - or nearly. An explorer who found a 2000 year old jar of honey in an Egyptian tomb said it tasted delicious!
- How many flowers must honey bees tap to make one pound of honey? Two million.
- In Celtic myths, bees possess a secret wisdom garnered from the other world.
- How much honey would it take to fuel a bee's flight around the world? About one ounce.
- The Romans used honey instead of gold to pay their taxes.
- It takes 35 pounds of honey to provide enough energy for a small colony of bees to survive the winter.
Here are my top 5 reasons for NEVER heating honey:
- Antioxidant content of raw honey is extremely variable, but the heat required for pasteurization (or baking) can reduce the amount by up to 1/3.
- Around the world most traditional medicine practices agree that heated honey has a negative affect on the human body. In the case of ayurveda, it is believed that honey heated over 60 degrees celsius (140 degrees fahrenheit) creates “ama”. Ama is a condition of mucus that is brought on by inflammation and toxicity.
- Honey that is heated becomes one-dimensional. It loses the subtle nuance of flavor that raw honey contains and becomes overly sweet and cloying.
- While the glycemic index of honey can vary depending on the type of nectar collected, it is in large part a low glycemic index food. There is some evidence to support my belief that cooking or pasteurizing honey increases the glycemic index.
- Why pay high prices for honey that has been preserved in its natural, raw state only to take it home and kill it yourself?