Honey

Group: Animal Sources

The sweet golden liquid known as honey is one of the nature’s most miraculous products. Honey is a syrupy delicacy made by bees. There are more than twenty thousand different species of bees, but just four of them are skillful enough to make honey. The honey bees are making this sweet food using nectar from flowers. A single pound of honey is a lifetime work of about three hundred bees. It is estimated that the bees’ colony needs to visit about two million flowers before it collects enough nectar to make a pound of honey. This is why honey bees never sleep! Instead, a standard crowd of a single beehive makes up to 400 pounds of honey each season!

The production of honey and its use have a very long history. It is believed that the practice of beekeeping and use of honey date as far back to at least 10,000 years in past, as demonstrated by cave paintings in Valencia, Spain. However, honey was not always used only as a food. Even the nature of its name suggests more powerful, sacral significance. The name “honey” originates from ancient Hebrew word meaning “enchant.” Honey is, in this manner, considered as one of the five elixirs of immortality in Hinuism. In Hebrew tradition, it is considered kosher, even though it is produced by non-kosher beings – flying insects. In Islam, honey is recommended directly by Prophet Muhammad, for healing purposes and because of its numerous medical benefits. In many other cultures it represents a symbol of sweet life and prosperity, like in Jewish tradition, where it has a special place as one of the symbols of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

This natural nutritive sweetener offers many substantial health benefits. Not only that it represents nature’s energy booster, but it also builds up our immune system and acts as a remedy for numerous ailments. Honey is great therapy for sore throat; it fights against bacteria, viruses and fungi, promotes good night sleep and helps with heavy hangovers caused by drinking too much alcohol. Phytonutrients found in honey are shown to possess cancer-preventing and anti-tumor properties, while experimental evidence indicates that it may improve blood sugar control and insulin sensitivity.

Unfortunately, these are the hard times for honey bees. Back in 2006, the sudden and mysterious disappearance of honey bees was first recorded in the United States. Since then, the bees are continuing to disappear without trace, at an accelerating rate and all over the world. This frightening and unusual phenomenon is named Colony collapse disorder (CCD), and it doesn’t only affect our honey supplies but also endangers the agricultural crops worldwide, which are pollinated by bees. The exact cause of the syndrome is not yet understood, but scientific evidence from Europe suggests that modern use of pesticides somehow affects the nervous and immune system of the bees, causing them to vanish from the face of Earth. If the problem doesn’t get solved urgently we may be facing a large crisis in food production. I’m sure that you know that what we eat changes our health, our environment and our communities. So, if you want to help in this issue, remember that each time you eat you vote with your fork. Choose organically grown food and help shape a better, honeybee-friendly world. You could also grow a small organic garden in your backyard or plant some flowers around your house to provide beautiful, fragrant and natural habitat for many animal species.

Honey note in perfumery is distinguished by its soft and balsamic sweet chords, and often used to underline and emphasize floral notes. The scent, as well as the taste of honey, depends on its sort: it can be predominantly woodsy, floral, herbal, or even tobacco-scented. The honey scent is used in perfumery for purpose of introducing gourmand nuance in the composition. Honey note is revealed in the sweetness of Thierry Mugler’s Angel, which is a perfect example of the gourmand fragrance category. The note can also be found in Iceberg-a, Red Door by Elizabeth Arden, and Miel de Bois by Serge Lutens.

Author: Marina Milojević (Mary)
Fragrantica Writer, Translator & Editor