Honey is a natural sweetener, an alternative to sugar, and comprised of several components: Sugars Honey is comprised of natural sugars like glucose, fructose, and mainly sucrose. These sugars comes from the plants nectar and have a total sugar content of ~30-40%. The very aroma and flavor of honey is distinct by the flower that it is sourced from. In addition, it has more than 181 substances. During the conversion process of nectar being made into honey, the honeybees secrete a catabolic enzyme from their hypopharyngeal glands called invertase, which breaks down most of the sucrose (found in the nectar) into glucose and fructose. Water Content Often times honey with high water content is considered to be of lesser quality than honey with low water content. This has to do with the fact that honey with high water content is likely to lose its freshness quicker and ferment faster. A high water content, which can be measured by a refractometer, is typically 19% and above. This is even more of a concern for raw, unpasteurized honey due to the fact that it contains wild yeasts. Raw honey with low moisture faces little risk with the wild yeasts because the natural process of… Read more…
Honey is a universal commodity that can be found across the globe in a variety of products that range from the honey itself to items for bodily care (lip balm, soap, etc. ). The collection and sell of honey products has developed and changed for many years. In addition, the trade and purpose of honey can be unique to the communities it is found within. For example, there are two distinct communities within India that have had their own economic relationship with the local honey, from the past trading system to now – The Nilgiris of Tamil Nadu and Simlipal Reserve of Orissa. Both are honey hunting communities and have had their own purposes with honey as well as experiences with trading to the outside market. The Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu People have collected raw honey from the Nilgiri hills for many generations, even for a couple thousand years. Decades ago, most honey collected was for personal consumption, specifically for the community or one’s family, and very little was sold. Honey in these communities was, and still is, used for food and medicine: Medicine – often mixed with other items to combat ailments, such as peacock feathers or bamboo powder for… Read more…
Honey is a universal commodity that can be found across the globe in a variety of products that range from the honey itself to items for bodily care (lip balm, soap, etc. ). The collection and sell of honey products has developed and changed for many years. In addition, the trade and purpose of honey can be unique to the communities it is found within. For example, there are two distinct communities within India that have had their own economic relationship with the local honey, from the past trading system to now – The Nilgiris of Tamil Nadu and Simlipal Reserve of Orissa. Both are honey hunting communities and have had their own purposes with honey as well as experiences with trading to the outside market. The Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu People have collected raw honey from the Nilgiri hills for many generations, even for a couple thousand years. Decades ago, most honey collected was for personal consumption, specifically for the community or one’s family, and very little was sold. Honey in these communities was, and still is, used for food and medicine: Medicine – often mixed with other items to combat ailments, such as peacock feathers or bamboo powder for… Read more…
When a worker honey bee is foraging among flowers she is collecting nectar. This natural sugary substance is broken down within the honey bee (specifically inside of the crop or honey stomach) from complex sucrose to more basic fructose and glucose. This process is completed through an enzyme called invertase. When the worker bee arrives back to her nest, she then will regurgitate the inverted sugar substance into another worker bees mouth who will also do the same inversion and regurgitation process. The process will continue as such over several rounds of worker bees. When the honey bees convert the nectar into honey there is a natural pasteurization process ( a process to kill pathogenic bacteria in order that food can be made to safe to eat). The worker bees within the colony will enable evaporation of excess water from they honey through high RPM (rotations per minute) via wing movement. Otherwise, too much moisture in the honey would cause it to spoil faster. In addition, another constituent called glucose oxidase is added to the honey, which gives it an antimicrobial property. In fact, the high total sugar concentration in honey is able to inhibit most yeasts from fermenting within the… Read more…
