On a hot August afternoon, I stood in a
meadow of knee-high grass and wildflowers. The blue sky was clear.
The breeze was soft and the birds chirped happily from their treetop
perches. Not far from where I stand, there is a dense flurry of
activity. Little creatures fly in haphazard patterns around this
small area, searching, smelling, and guarding. At this distance, it
is quiet, but as I move closer, the sound increases to a buzzing that
I can feel as much as hear. I walk clumsily toward the cluster of
activity, awkward in my full body gear, but excited to get an up
close view of a real, working bee hive.
Guided by my host, beekeeper Jeff Burns,
I peek inside one of his three hives. He tells me it contains 50,000
bees, give or take a few. It is absolutely fascinating. It is
constant motion. The bees are walking, flying, hopping, buzzing,
moving up, down, over and across. They are much smaller than what I
expected. I thought I would see big, jolly, fluffy bees, but these
creatures are small and brown, tinier than a peanut. Jeff shows me
one of the panels in the hive and explains how the bees have built
the waxy combs, within which they will make and store honey. The
bees allow me this glimpse into their secret world and go about their
business like I wasn't even there.
In the beekeeping world, Jeff is a
newbie. He has only been beekeeping for a few years. It is just a
hobby for him, but he has the know-how of a real veteran. There
wasn't a question he couldn't answer and his enthusiasm was
contagious. He told me that bees could visit as many as 100 flowers
in a single trip and can fly distances of up to 3 km. The nectar
they collect when they forage is brought back to the hive and
regurgitated into the stomach of another bee. After a few of these
transfers, the substance becomes partly ripened honey, which is then
stored in the honey combs. It becomes ripe honey after most of the
water has evaporated from it.
Probably one of the most interesting
things I learned from Jeff that day was also a bit disturbing... some
supermarket honey is not really honey at all. According to many of
the world's food safety agencies, honey must contain pollen in order
to be considered the real thing. If the pollen has been removed, it
is not honey. Most of the popular brands of honey go through a
high-tech procedure involving heat and ultra-fine filters to remove
the pollen. In 2011, Food Safety News proved this when they
tested more than 60 different brands of “honey” available in the
United States and found that 76% had no pollen in them. This is
concerning because many of us buy honey for its health and wellness
benefits. It is a real powerhouse of vitamins, anti-oxidants and
anti-bacterial agents. No pollen means no health benefits. All you
have left is a sweetener.
Even more concerning is the fact that
some well-known honey brands are adulterated by additives like corn
syrup, molasses, and dextrose or even illegal antibiotics and heavy
metals. This is especially true of honey originating from China.
Although banned and considered unsafe in many countries, the U.S.
imports millions of pounds of Chinese honey and sells it in huge
quantities. Once word of this tainted honey spread, China officials
began using illegal means to hide the origins of their honey and
distributed it through other countries. On the label, the country of
origin refers only to where it is bottled, so consumers are none the
wiser.
Personally, I don't eat a lot of honey,
but I bought a jar from Jeff that day anyway. I am going to start
using it on my toast, in my baking, for sinus colds and to treat
minor cuts. I was happy to support him and his bees, knowing his
honey was pure, organic and unadulterated. We keep a jar of this
honey in the soap shop too. It is a key ingredient in our Honey Bee Fragrance Free soap... and our afternoon tea.
Sources:
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/11/tests-show-most-store-honey-isnt-honeyhttp://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/08/honey-laundering/
http://www.benefits-of-honey.com/chinese-honey.html
