Featured Ingredient: Honey

Yellow Belly Farm honey and honeycomb.

Beloved as a spread, a healthful sweetener or even a savory ingredient, honey is one of the most sought-after products at the farmers market. Cultures around the world are enchanted by its golden viscosity and charmed by the fuzzy yellow bees that create it. Honey is perhaps one of the most miraculous natural substances in the world, not just for how it comes to be, but for its wide-ranging health benefits. Read on to learn more about this true superfood!

Golden, delicious Honey is what occurs when worker bees ferment the nectar of flowers inside honeycombs. (Who knew bees are experts in fermentation on top of everything else?) During the process of converting nectar into honey, excess moisture is removed and the sugar sucrose is converted into the sugars levulose (fructose) and dextrose (glucose). Honeycomb is an incredible substance made from beeswax and propolis, which each have their own wide arrays of health and practical benefits. During the winter when flowers and their nectar are less abundant, honeycomb is used as food for larvae and other members of the hive. Talk about a zero-waste operation! 

According to the Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Medicine, honey has been used for medicinal purposes almost as long as there have been civilizations.  

“The first written reference to honey, a Sumerian tablet writing, dating back to 2100-2000 BC, mentions honey's use as a drug and an ointment. Aristotle (384-322 BC), when discussing different honeys, referred to pale honey as being “’ good as a salve for sore eyes and wounds.’” Mandal, et al. 

In ancient Egypt, honey was used as an embalming material, and as the sole sweetener. In India and other Asian countries, it was used as a preservative and in baking. Honey is mentioned in both the Bible and the Qurʾān. 

The list of medicinal uses of honey is dizzyingly long, from treating eye infections to preventing cancer. Menuka honey has been a particular focus in science because of its antimicrobial properties that can fight pathogenic bacteria, making it a promising treatment for wounds or stomach ulcers. Honey’s general usefulness in treating wounds or burns is attributed to its antimicrobial properties, and that it maintains a moist environment that promotes healing. 

Whatever you use honey for, jars and bottles can be found at Seattle Urban Honey, Yellow Belly Honey, Seola Bees, Rainy Day Bees, and Golden Girls Honey.