Honey is one of nature’s greatest creations. Without any additives or refrigeration, honey will not spoil on its own. It is one of very few natural foods that don’t have expiration dates. While being quite the delicious additive to hot drinks and even on its own, honey has useful soothing properties as well. Honey was used in ancient medicine to calm soar throats and medicate rashes or burns. Honey is still used as a remedy for these common issues instead of medication.
For these reasons references of honey can be found in the religious books of Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, and Judaism as a symbol of sweetness. It has also been used in ancient Egyptian times as a sweetener in treats. They also used honey to preserve foods and embalm their dead. The Romans, Mayans, and the Chinese have recorded similar uses of honey in their own cultures. Even Alexander the Great is believed to have been embalmed in honey to symbolize his immortality. Here is an example of a cave painting over 8000 years old depicting the retrieval of honey.
We all know that bees produce honey. They extract nectar from various flowers and regurgitate the compound into honey wax chambers (another product of bees). They proceed to flap their wings over the honey to dry it. The removal of moisture prevents it from spoiling. This is because bacteria and parasites need water to survive just like we do. We store honey in sealed containers to limit the exposure to moisture in the air.
For this reason, honey and anything you decide to store in honey, will last for decades or even hundreds of years. Honey has even been found that dates back 5000 years in a tomb in Georgia. Honey was coveted so much back then that Georgians would bury their dead with vessels filled with honey for their journeys into their afterlives
Honey Facts
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=96
Honey has so many amazing uses! I typically stick to putting it in my tea, over my fruit, and in my greek yogurt, but there are so many other amazing things you can do with it. There’s a list of fifteen awesome and weird uses for honey, and a few that stuck out to me were making marshmallows and using it to get a good nights sleep. I don’t sleep well at all but if you put a little bit of salt and honey on your tongue, you’re more likely to fall asleep after waking up in the middle of the night. I think I’m going to try that one night and see if it actually works. http://empoweredsustenance.com/uses-for-honey/
Reading this made me want to go out and grab a bottle. It’s also very good in whiskey, but that’s another blog post. I never liked it as a child, but as I grew older I found that it is an amazing natural product. Although it’s filled with fructose it’s also filled with antioxidants which is my excuse to go out and buy a bottle.
I’m not ashamed to say I love, love, love honey. I usually go light, but apparently, it’s better to go darker: the darker the honey, the better its antibacterial and antioxidant power.
That’s right- honey has been shown to hamper the growth of bacteria such as E. coli and salmoella, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Additionally, it can help cut cravings!
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/medicinal-uses-of-honey?page=2