• Brief history of honey
• Honey an health
• Honey and cooking

HISTORY OF HONEY

• For several thousand years, since the earliest civilisations, mankind has ‘pilfered’ honey from countless bee colonies. The harvesting of honey is as old as written history with its consumption and reverence conspicuous in the texts of the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans.



• In Spain, cave paintings have been found depicting the process of ‘bee-keeping’ or apiculture (for the purpose of harvesting honey) and are said to be around 7000 years old. Indeed, fossilised remains of honeybees dating back some 150 million years confidently suggest that the existence of honey is older than that of humanity itself.



• Nearly four thousand years ago, the ancient Egyptians commonly used honey as a sweetening agent in most foods and it was also considered to have therapeutic properties, thus emphasising its high value. Indeed, the Egyptians ensured that honey played a part in their culture by awarding it significant association with birth (consumption provided energy and fertility needed to conceive a child) and death (honey was an important ingredient in making embalming fluid).



• The earliest record of keeping bees in hives for the purpose of honey production is attributed to the Egyptians, originating nearly four and a half thousand years ago in 2400BC.



• The Egyptians valued honey so greatly that it was regularly offered as tribute or payment to their gods or to the members of society that occupied positions of high status. Additionally, honey was used as a form of currency and also fed to animals that were deemed to be sacred by Egyptian culture.



• The ancient Greeks also offered honey to the spirits of the dead and as a tribute to their gods, as they believed it to be part of the gods’ staple diet. The Greeks claimed that Zeus (King of the Greek gods) was fed the nectar of queen bees during his upbringing. Honey was thus referred to as Ambrosia, which means Food of the Gods.



• Equally, the Greeks regarded honey just as important for humans, not only as a significant source of nutrition, but for its pharmaceutical and medicinal qualities. Additionally, the ancient Greeks are considered to be the first to make the alcoholic beverage known as Mead, which was made with honey and referred to by them as the nectar of the gods.



• With honey playing an important role in ancient Greek cooking and confectionery, it was left to Hippocrates (the ‘father of medicine’) to promote its usefulness in relieving certain ailments. Aristotle (philosopher and scientist) chipped in with the idea that the digestion of honey was the key to a healthier and, therefore, longer life.



• Greek (and later, Roman) mythology stated that Eros, the God of Love, dipped his arrows in honey before firing them at the hearts of unsuspecting lovers. The Romans’ name for Eros was Cupid, whose myth perpetuated their old adage ­ Madam, treat your husband with honey and you will possess his heart. Powerful stuff indeed!



• The Romans adopted the art of apiculture to such an extent that it became a major rural industry throughout their Empire. The spread of apiaries (school of beehive colonies) guaranteed that honey harvesting flourished in much of the known world that had been conquered and subsequently inhabited by the Romans.



• The Bible (The Old Testament; Exodus 3:8) refers to the area today encompassing Israel and Palestine as being the land of milk and honey.



• Demand and production of honey and beeswax increased with the onset and establishment of the Christian faith that needed the wax for making church candles. Over the following centuries, the demand for honey increased ever further, and the bee-keeping industry flourished.



• The New World beckoned in later centuries with the discovery of the Americas. However, much to the surprise of the invading Spaniards, the cultures of Mexico and Central America had a long tradition of bee-keeping and producing honey.



• The colonisation of North America by European settlers in the 17th century saw the introduction of European honeybees to the country. In addition to eating it, colonists would use honey for a number of diverse applications such as, making cement, preserving fruits and making furniture polish and varnish.



• Honey was used less as a food sweetener when sugar arrived and quickly increased in popularity. However, this didn’t diminish the importance of honey, which has developed today into a global appreciation of its nutritional richness in the food culture of our times.