Out of the blue the other morning I couldn’t get the idea of having honey on a homemade biscuit for breakfast out of my mind. Picturing myself drizzling warm sticky honey over a fresh biscuit, I headed straight to the kitchen. I put my dietitian self aside and proceeded to make biscuits, never mind the one stick of butter involved. I chased the butter thought away and thought about how thousands of bees worked hard to provide their sweet gift of honey for my breakfast. Delicious- no other words for breakfast that morning.
Busy Bees
The process bees go through to make honey is far more complex than honey itself. As foraging bees collect the sugary nectar of flowers, the nectar helps support the bees’ metabolism while they continue to forage and fly about collecting precious nectar to take back to the hive. Once back in the hive, the bees bringing the remaining nectar pass the nectar onto worker hive bees that process the nectar into honey for storage in the honeycomb. The honey is stored as a food source for winter months. Bees keep the hive at a warm 95 F by beating their wings and generating warmth from their effort keeping the honeycomb and honey soft.
Science of Honey
The sweetness of honey comes from two simple sugars: glucose and fructose which compose 70% of the honey. The rest is approximately 17% water with the remainder being other sugars and minute amounts of amino acids, antioxidants, and minerals. How a particular honey tastes, smells or is colored is determined by the flower source and the ratio of fructose to glucose.
The high sugar content and the ratio of glucose to fructose prevent honey from fermenting, prevent bacterial activity and keep honey from deteriorating. The supersaturated sugar in the water keeps the honey from crystalizing especially in honeys with a high fructose content. But over time the water can’t hold the sugar and may crystalize. It is not spoiled.
Place it in a warm water bath and stir to dissolve crystals. Don’t get it too hot or boil it as that will change the flavor and breakdown the honey.
Tupelo honey from the tupelo tree grown in the southeastern part of the United States never crystallizes because it has such a high fructose to glucose ratio. Most other honeys crystallize at some point because lower fructose to glucose ratio attracts water during storage.
Nutrition and Health Effects
Honey is slightly more calorie dense than sugar. One tablespoon of honey is 60 calories while one tablespoon of sugar is 48 calories. Honey has a slightly lower glycemic index than table sugar (sucrose: equal parts glucose and fructose) due to the high proportion of fructose to glucose, so blood sugar is slightly slower to rise than if glucose was the equal or dominant sugar. Overall, sugar as well as honey can rapidly raise blood sugar in people with diabetes.
Research shows honey may be an effective topical antibiotic treatment for burns and wounds. and effective as a cough suppressant. Honey should not be given to children under one year old.
History
Cave paintings in Cuevas de la Araña in Spain depict humans foraging for honey at least 8,000 years ago.
Honey is mentioned throughout the Bible as a symbol sweetness, wisdom, and abundance. Many of the world’s religions honor honey and depict it as goodness and blessing.
At the state fair this year I stopped by the local beekeepers display to investigate the secrets to keeping thriving, productive hives and harvesting honey. Bee keeping sounded like a noble way to keep bees flourishing and abundant with the benefit of having my own honey to share. In spite of the enthusiastic group of beekeepers, common sense convinced me my neighborhood home-owners association would have a thing or two to say about beekeeping and from a practical perspective neither did I have the space. I’m happy to enjoy grocery store honey for cooking purposes and drizzling on biscuits but I’m always on the lookout for special honeys when I travel.
Recipe Tip
Warm Pears with Goat Cheese and Honey Servings: 4
2 ripe (not too soft) Bartlett pears
4 ounces goat cheese
8 walnut halves, toasted
2 tablespoons honey
- Adjust oven rack to the middle position. Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Cut pears in half. Scoop out core with a melon ball scooper and slice out the stem section. Slice a very thin piece off the bottom of the pear to stabilize it.
- Fill each pear with an ounce of goat cheese. Place pears in the oven and bake 5 to 6 minutes. Remove just as pear is tender and the goat cheese is melting but not completely.
- Remove from oven. Garnish with 2 walnut halves on top of cheese. Drizzle with 1/2 tablespoon of honey. Serve warm with a knife and fork.
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