Buzz-worthy facts about yummy honey you should know

Bees aren’t the friendliest creatures to be around but they deserve so much credit for giving us one of the sweetest and most delicious foods on planet earth.

Used in place of sugar, as a condiment or for soothing a sore throat, honey boasts of some amazing properties that will make you fall in love with it all over again.

Here are some facts about this superfood that will leaving you buzzing

• Honey is made up of 80 % sugars and 20% water. This makes it a ‘not-so-bad’ alternative to sugar. High-quality brands of honey are better than low quality ones which may be mixed with syrup. But like all things sweet, it should be consumed in moderation as it is still high in calories and sugar.
• Honey is the only food made by an insect, and eaten both by the insect and humans. Though we get many useful products from insects such as silk, red dye and shellac glaze – and in some cultures beetles, bees, ants and crickets are eaten – honey is the only natural product insects make that humans consume.

• A productive bee colony makes two to three times more honey than it needs (nine to 14kg ) to survive the winter. When harvesting honey from a beehive, beekeepers only take honey that bees do not need. If necessary, beekeepers will feed bees sugar syrup in the autumn to compensate for the honey they take.
• A single honeybee will only produce approximately 1/12 teaspoon of honey in its lifetime. This is despite the fact that bees as a hive are capable of producing a massive amount of honey. In other words, two tablespoons of honey would be enough to fuel a bee’s entire flight around the world.

• A typical beehive can produce anywhere from 13 to 45kg of honey a year. To produce a single pound of honey, a colony of bees must collect nectar from approximately 2 million flowers and fly over 55,000 miles. This equates to a lifetime worth of work of approximately 768 bees.
• Honey’s depth of flavour is determined by the source of the nectar it was made from. Linden honey is delicate and woodsy, buckwheat honey is strong and spicy, and eucalyptus honey has a subtle menthol flavour. The darkness or lightness of certain honey varies as well.
• Honey will keep indefinitely in a jar. There are even reports of edible honey being found in several-thousand-year-old Egyptian tombs. Honey’s longevity can be explained by its chemical makeup: the substance is naturally acidic and low in moisture, making it an inhospitable environment for bacteria. However, it can react to cool temperatures by crystallising.

• Due to its antibacterial properties, honey has been used in medicine for centuries. Ancient records show it was a favoured treatment for wounds. The sticky substance creates a barrier on the skin preventing moisture and dirt from getting in and causing infection.
• In medieval Europe, honey was used as a source of revenue in the form of a tax, and was gathered by the lords. There are records of this practice in England in the Domesday Book. The Romans were also avid beekeepers and responsible for bringing the species to the UK.

So there you have it! The next time you spread honey on your toast or drizzle its sticky goodness over yoghurt, remember these yummy facts and say a silent thank you to the universe for the wonder that is bees.