Honey Do Mead: 5 Facts About Honey
by cheri | Apr 29, 2012 | Recipe |
- It takes 12 honeybees to produce one tablespoon of honey. That’s so cute. Hard workers!
- Honeybees are the only insect to produce a food eaten by man. I wonder if they get annoyed at us though – I mean, it’s not like they were making it for us – they were making it for the queen, sorry we stole it.
- Honey is the only food that includes all the substances necessary to sustain life, including enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and water. And it’s the only food that contains pinocembrin, an antioxidant associated with improved brain functioning. Who knew they were so talented?
- Mead, also called honey wine, is an alcoholic beverage that is produced by fermenting a solution of honey and water. Archaeological evidence places this beverage back to around 7000 BC. Imagine if they found an old school bottle of the stuff…
- In other honey-related news, this is what I look like when they bring ANY KIND of food to my table:
6. It also is the only (or one of the only foods) that don’t spoil.
7. There is a condition called ‘honey madness.’ When bees feed exclusively on a certain plant, Sheep-laurel (Kalmia angustifolia), they make a honey that contains a toxin known to kill sheep, calves, and cause a condition in humans called ‘honey madness.’ It’s super-rare and no reason to stay away from honey, but just, you know, food for thought, har har.
I’m sorry I was a little unclear. Sheep and calves eat the flowers which kill them. Honey madness is caused by humans eating the honey. I don’t know what happens if humans eat the flowers. Just don’t do it!
Honey madness! Yikes! Alright, I’m convinced to stay away from Sheep-laurel. Good advice! :D And the only thing about honey not spoiling is that it does become crystallized if we keep it for too long, which makes it unusable…which is annoying. But I’m told I can just heat it up and it will go back to normal…so I think I’ll try that. It’s honey madness, I tell you.