Honey is popular the world over, whether it is used in cooking or in a good cup of tea. But there’s a lot more to the story of honey than most people know.
People have been using honey since before recorded history. The earliest evidence is from a cave painting in Spain that dates back 8,000 years, and mentions of honey appear in the earliest writings found in Egypt, India, and the Middle East.
How honey is produced is amazing in itself. One beehive can make between 30 and 100 pounds of honey annually, but it takes a lot of work—and bees. To make a single pound, bees must fly more than 55,000 miles to get nectar from some two million flowers.
One reason people like honey is it never spoils. It has little moisture and contains chemicals that keep bacteria from growing. In fact, it stays fresh long enough that it was once used as a form of currency in Europe. And in ancient Egypt, when a couple got married, it was common practice for a husband to promise to provide his wife with honey.