HONEY

Honey, a sweet, thick fluid, is collected by honeybees from the nectar of flowers, then carried in their special honey stomach (separate from their digestive stomach) to the hive, regurgitated to another honeybee, who puts it in the cells of the comb to "ripen." It is then extracted by the beekeeper, and happily eaten by you and me!

There are as many varieties of honey in the world as there are flowers that produce nectar. The colour of honey depends entirely on the flowers from which the honey is collected. Honey has normally a whitish colour, tinged with yellow, however, there are brown, red, green and even black honeys.

COMPOSITION OF HONEY

Honey is composed of sugars such as fructose (41%), glucose (34%), sucrose (2%), and minerals like magnesium, potassium, calcium, sodium chlorine, sulpur, iron and phosphate. It contains vitamisns B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, and C, according to the qualities of nectar and pollen. There are also small amounts of copper, iodine, and zinc. It has a pH of 3.8 - 4.2.  It is also 17% moisture (as compared to the moisture in nectar, which is 70%).

(Raw, unheated honey maintains all the health benefits present in honey as it is presented straight from the hive.)

HOW TO STORE HONEY

Store honey at room temperature. Storing it in the refrigerator accelerates the honey's crystallisation process. Crystallisation is the natural process in which honey becomes solid.
If your honey crystallises, simply place the honey jar in warm water until the crytals dissolve. Alternatively, if the honey is in a glass container, it can be placed in the oven on a low enough setting that when you pick the jar up with bare hands, you do not burn yourself.  Be careful not to heat the honey above 42 degrees C. or it will loose some of its goodness.

We recommend not heating your honey in the microwave.

INFANTS AND HONEY

Be aware that honey should not be fed to infants younger than one year of age. Infants are susceptible to the disease, infant botulism, which is caused by spores of the bacterium
Clostridium botulinum. Traces of C. botulinum to honey are rare, but can occur. Because infants lack fully developed gastrointestinal tracts, it is reccommended honey only be fed to babies one year and older.