ALL
FOR
HONEY

A real treasure of health and power

Honey is a natural sweetening with intense antioxidant, antibacterial and cell-protecting effect.

Bees fly from flower to flower, suck up a tiny nectar drop and transfer it to the beehive. There, they swap it among them many times. After having supplemented it with some substances produced in their body, they store it in the honeycomb, remove excess moister, leave it mature and transform it to honey sealing it with wax so as to be retained. As a result, it is a 100% natural product, which cannot be processed in any way.

HISTORY

The history of honey goes back to the ancient years, where it held a special position.

It was considered a macrobiotic source of nourishment with exceptional wholefood and healing attributes for the body and the soul. Honey served as the basis of many of the most macrobiotic tribes in the planet and the survival of many wild tribes of the jungle and Amazon.

 

Reference to honey is being made into the Egyptian papyri before 3500 years, as healing means. Egyptians offered to their kings honeycombs full of honey as a precious present showing dedication and appeasement.

In the book of life on ancient Indians it is written that life can be extended, if daily nutrition includes honey.

In Greece, according to the legend, honey was the food of ancient heroes of Olympus, keeping them young and strong for centuries.

At the historical years, there are writings of Aristotle and Democritus, referring to the beneficial attributes of honey regarding health and longevity.

2500 years ago, the father of medicine, Hippocrates, instructed “May your medicine be your nutrition and your nutrition be your medicine”.

He integrated honey to daily nutrition as natural and healthy product and suggested it for treatment of many diseases.

 

Thanks to its antibacterial and antiseptic effect it was used for dead bodies’ embalmment.

 It is said, that the dead body of Alexander the Great was embalmed this way.

 

Honey became the basic sweetening in many parts of the world, and was included as basic food instead of supplement into their diet. This lasted until the mid-16th century, when sugar was first launched in Europe, and was predominant from the late 18th century as a new product with high production potential and low cost. For three centuries honey was a delicate food only for few people, who knew and enjoyed its advantages. At the beginning of our century though, people turned again to honey, because its production raised and became more profitable, so honey was more reachable, as well as because scientists constantly assert through research its biological attributes. Thus, honey gains more and more new consumers.

 

HONEY CONTENT

There are two big categories of honey. The blossom honey, produced from the nectar of flowers, and the honeydew honey produced from the juice of pine, fir and other forest plants.

The final content of the already mature honey we enjoy, depends on the source from which the bees collected the nectar or the honeydew.

Roughly, someone could say that honey under normal conditions consist of 17% moisture, 77% different types of sugars and 6% miscellaneous substances. In particular honey consists of:

 

1. Carbohydrates - sugars

Honey contains sugars at a rate of 75-80%. In general, all honey varieties contain relatively stable sugar percentage and differ in the content of essential oils, minerals and organic acids, which underpin their therapeutic value. The two main carbohydrates present in honey are fructose (35%) and glucose (32%). These two sugars derive from nectar sucrose upon processing by the bee herself.

 

2. Organic acids

Honey contains at least 18 organic acids, some of which are gluconic acid, citric acid, acetic acid and phosphoric acid.

 

 

3. Minerals

Honey contains many minerals and trace elements, which play an important role, in general, to maintain equilibrium of the human body. Few of these minerals are potassium, chlorine, sulfur, calcium, sodium, iron, magnesium, manganese, copper, phosphorus, etc.

 

4. Enzymes

Perhaps the most important component of honey are enzymes. These come from bees, pollen, nectar as well as from fermentation factors and microorganisms. Even when honey is mature, some of these enzymes continue to be active in it. Some of these are amylase A, B, glucoinvertase and glucooxidase.

 

In smaller quantities it contains proteins, natural aromas, essential oils, amino acids and vitamin complexes (B2, B6, C, D, E, pantothenic acid, folic acid, etc.), the presence of which aims to optimal absorption and assimilation of sugars and minerals from the human body.

 

A typical analysis shows that it consists of

•  Fructose: 38.2%

• Glucose: 31.3%

• Maltose: 7.1%

• Sucrose: 1.3%

• Water: 17.2%

• Higher sugars: 1.5%

• Ash: 0.2%

• Other/undetermined: 3.2%

 

Its glycemic index ranges from 31 to 78, depending on the variety

 

Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)

Energy

1,272 kJ (304 kcal)

Carbohydrates

82.4 g

- Sugars

82.12 g

- Dietary fiber

0.2 g

Fat

0 g

Protein

0.3 g

Water

17,00 g

Riboflavin (vit. B 2)

0.038 mg (3%)

Niacin (vit. B 3)

0.121 mg (1%)

Pantothenic acid (B5)

0.068 mg (1%)

Vitamin B 6)

0.024 mg (2%)

Folate (vit. B9)

2 μg (1%)

Vitamin C

0.5 mg (1%)

Calcium

6 mg (1%)

Iron

0.42 mg (3%)

Magnesium

2 mg (1%)

Phosphorus

4 mg (1%)

Potassium

52 mg (1%)

Sodium

4 mg (0%)

Zinc

0.22 mg (2%)

Shown is for 100 g, roughly 5 tbsp.

Percentages are roughly approximated

using US recommendations for adults.

Source: USDA Nutrient Database

 

Physical properties of honey

The density of honey depends on the moisture content, ranging from about 1,45 gr/ml with a moisture content of 13% to 1,39 gr/ml with a moisture content of 22%. Generally, mature honey has a moisture content of around 16% and is quite viscous. The viscosity of honey depends on the temperature and the moisture content of it. The lower the temperature and the moisture content the more viscous the honey.

 

Color, taste & aroma of honey

 

The color of honey is a key feature of it; it relates to its taste and its content of minerals. The shades of honey vary from colorless transparent, yellow, gold, yellow/reddish to black.

The taste of honey varies according to the plant from which it was extracted.  It varies from intensively sweet to bitter. Its taste can be smooth or acid and caustic.

It may have a slight aroma to an intense aroma. Honey contains a multitude of aromas, colors and other substances, most well-known of which are choline and acetylcholine.

Color, taste and aroma of honey depend on its type; however, these characteristics can show great deviations in a variety of honey. This happens because other factors play an important role. Such are the climate, the soil, the variety of a plant that provides nectar, the moisture, the speed by which bees are collecting nectar, the quality of the honeycomb, where it is stored, the maturity of honey, the way of harvesting, the conditions and the period of storage. As time passes by, color may change (darken) and taste may also change (becomes more stodgy), which however do not affect its nutritional value.