Dating back to over 40 million years before the evolution of man, Honey is the oldest sweetener existent in the world. While the accurate date of origin of this sweetener remains unknown the oldest written record available dates back to Egyptians in 5,500 B.C.
The history and religious texts from across the lands have a mention of this sweetener and its significance in the daily life. Honey was seen as a symbol of prosperity and goodness according to the old testament of the Bible.
An astonishing fact about the importance of honey in the olden days was made evident when the archaeologists discovered crystallized honey among the artefacts, furniture, etc. that they had discovered in the Egyptian tomb in the Valley of the Kings belonging to the 18th century. The most amazing thing about this discovery was that the honey was not just present in the tomb after over 300 years, but also the fact that it was still edible, although it had crystallized.
Bee Facts…
-
There are three types of bees in the hive – Queen, Worker and Drone
-
The queen may lay 600-800 or even 1,500 eggs each day during her 3 or 4 year lifetime. This daily egg production may equal her own weight. She is constantly fed and groomed by attendant worker bees
-
Honey bees fly at 15 miles per hour
-
Honey bees’ wings stroke 11,400 times per minute, thus making their distinctive buzz
-
Honeybees are the only insect that produce food for humans
-
Honeybees will usually travel approximately 3 miles from their hive
-
Honeybees are the only bees that die after they sting
-
Honeybees have five eyes, 3 small ones on top of the head and two big ones in front. They also have hair on their eyes!
-
Bees communicate with each other by dancing and by using pheromones (scents)
-
Honeybees never sleep!
Honey
-
Honey is 80% sugars and 20% water
-
To make one pound of honey, the bees in the colony must visit 2 million flowers, fly over 55,000 miles and will be the lifetime work of approximately 768 bees
-
A single honeybee will only produce approximately 1/12 teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
-
A single honey bee will visit 50-100 flowers on a single trip out of the hive
-
Bees produce honey as food stores for the hive during the long months of winter when flowers aren’t blooming and therefore little or no nectar is available to them
-
Honey is the ONLY food that includes all the substances necessary to sustain life, including water
-
A typical beehive can make up to 400 pounds of honey per year
-
Honey never spoils
-
It would take about 1 ounce of honey to fuel a honeybee’s flight around the world
-
Flowers and other blossoming plants have nectarines that produce sugary nectar. Worker bees suck up the nectar and water and store it in a special honey stomach. When the stomach is full the bee returns to the hive and puts the nectar in an empty honeycomb. Natural chemicals from the bee’s head glands and the evaporation of the water from the nectar change the nectar into honey
-
Out of 20,000 species of bees, only 4 make honey