Honey … it’s unbee-lievable

By Susan Tallant/editor-in-chief

Bee-lieve it or not, September is national honey month. So now is the perfect time to mind our beeswax and learn a little Honey 101.

This sweet little miracle-in-a-jar—noted in history as far back as the ancient writings of Egypt—provides fuel to working muscles and repairs overworked ones. It contains vitamins, minerals, amino acids and antioxidants.

Honey is a great source of simple carbohydrates and perfect for athletes. With only mild effects on blood sugar, it is a much healthier sweetener than sugar. It contains antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and anti-irritant properties, and attracts and maintains moisture, speeds healing and reduces scarring.

The National Honey Board, now celebrating a 20th anniversary, offers unbeelievable honey info, bee trivia and recipes for using this liquid gold on its Web site at www.honey.com.

Christopher Watt, a licensed aesthetician who cares for some of the biggest names in Hollywood, including Halle Berry and Jennifer Lopez, offers suggestions for using honey in homemade skin care recipes on the site.

For acne-prone skin, Watt suggests a mix of honey, liquid soap and glycerin as a twice weekly cleanser.
Homemade honey skin care? How sweet is that?

Honey Bees just don’t get the respect they deserve. They have been producing honey from flowering plants for 10-20 million years.

The average worker produces only one and a half teaspoons of honey in a lifetime, but a hive of bees will fly more than 55,000 miles and tap into two million flowers just to make one pound of honey.

Which flowers they tap will determine the color of the honey produced, from extra light to dark amber. Bees produce more than 300 types of honey in the U.S.

Some of the most common floral varieties include alfalfa, which produces a mild flavor; avocado, a well-rounded honey with a rich buttery flavor and a flowery aftertaste; clover, a sweet, flowery flavor with mild taste; orange blossom, with a light citrus taste; and wildflower, used to describe undefined flower sources.

After reading how hard the little drones work, and how beneficial their product is, I’m a new bee-liever!