Honey For Dummies. Howland Blackiston
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Propolis
Beekeepers curse propolis because it sticks to their hands, hive tools, and the frames inside the hive while they are inspecting their colonies. For this reason, it is often called “bee glue,” and it leaves a permanent stain on everything it comes into contact with. A type of tree resin similar to myrrh and frankincense, propolis is produced when honey bees gather the sticky sap from conifer trees like spruce, pine, or fir. They mix the sap with their own enzymes and beeswax to produce one of the most powerful antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral substances in the natural world.
Propolis resembles sticky taffy when it’s warm, and it shatters like glass when it’s cold. Beekeepers scrape chunks of propolis from the woodenware inside their hives and save it to make tinctures, dissolving it with grain alcohol. Personal care items like topical salves, throat sprays, lozenges, and toothpaste found in most health-food stores tout the benefits of propolis. If you have infected gums, a toothache, or a sore throat, try sucking on a small piece of propolis; it will relieve pain pretty quickly by numbing the area. Because propolis contains essential minerals, iron, calcium, aluminum, manganese, and all the vitamins known to man except vitamin K, it is known to stimulate the body’s own immune system.
The name propolis was dubbed by Aristotle when the ancient Greeks observed bees calking the crevasses in their hives to fortify against bacteria in preparation for the oncoming winter. Propolis translates to pro (before) and polis (city) referring to a bee colony’s ability to defend its own city. It is a well-known fact that the ancient Egyptians used propolis and honey to embalm the mummies, and for this reason they have survived for thousands of years. Stradivarius polished his violins with beeswax and propolis, which acted as a preservative for the wood. Today, beekeepers often mix tinctures of propolis with paint to preserve the woodenware of their beehives.
Beeswax
After honey, beeswax is the most commercially valuable and labor-intensive product made by honey bees. Beeswax is secreted by glands on the bottom of the female workers’ abdomens as tiny white flakes. Then they form it into hexagonal cells, creating a repeating pattern that becomes honeycomb. These beeswax cells are where the bees store their honey, pollen, propolis, and beebread. The beeswax cells also serve as the nest where the bees live and the queen will lay her eggs. An interesting fact is that while bees are constructing their honeycomb with beeswax, they can be seen linking themselves together by their feet, creating a single chain. There does not seem to be any explanation for this behavior. Some say they are re-creating scaffolding or they are simply using their own bodies to measure the size of each hexagon they build. Either way, we can all agree that honey bees are master builders and mathematicians.
Producing beeswax and building honeycomb are not only labor intensive for bees, but harvesting beeswax and honeycomb is also labor intensive for the beekeeper. Over time beeswax becomes visibly old, turning black and stinky from overuse by the bees. Beekeepers know it is time to swap it out and replace it with new frames of beeswax foundation for the bees to build new honeycomb.
Thrifty beekeepers harvest their beeswax and clean it by boiling it in water then straining out the excess honey and any residual particles a few times until the beeswax is clean and bright yellow again. This can take hours, mostly because of the time needed to boil and cool down the beeswax in between straining.
Beeswax can be used to make candles and mixed with oils, butters, and scents to make personal care products or even wood polish. Beeswax candles are highly desirable because they burn two to three times longer and cleaner than paraffin wax. Beeswax candles are also an ecologically safe choice for the environment because they do not emit toxic smoke or messy drips. It is said that the light from a burning beeswax candle is identical to sunlight.
When used as an ingredient in skin care or hair products, beeswax has a warm, nostalgic, honey scent. It is emollient, allowing oils and butters to absorb completely into the skin to moisturize, while offering antibacterial properties and a certain amount of protection from the sun.
Enjoying the Many Benefits of Honey
And now to the star of this little book: honey. It’s a truly magical substance that cannot be replicated by humans. Although some have successfully made a sweet, syrupy substance that tastes very similar, it is impossible to mimic honey’s chemical composition or its unparalleled health benefits. Beginning with its low pH, honey is an acidic environment, inhibiting the growth of most bacteria, fungi, and viruses, which prefer to thrive in a more alkaline state. Honey registers at 3.2–4.5 on the pH scale, much lower than most pathogens can survive.
Next, honey is hygroscopic, meaning that when it is openly exposed to moisture or humid conditions, it will absorb water. This is because honey is a supersaturated solution and honey bees are able to dissolve much more sugar in water than normal using heat. This hygroscopic behavior comes in handy when honey comes in contact with bacteria. Honey will absorb any moisture surrounding bacteria, which will dehydrate and kill the cell. So be sure to put the lid back on your honey jar, especially when it is humid.
The last amazing thing that honey bees do is add their own enzymes to honey, and one in particular, called glucose oxidase, is added during the ripening process. Glucose oxidase prevents the honey from fermenting and is what breaks down the glucose sugar in honey to gluconic acid. This action produces hydrogen peroxide and is another major factor in why honey is said to have antibacterial properties. Hydrogen peroxide occurs in small quantities for a short time, and this happens only when the honey has not been heat treated and is in the presence of water. The pH of hydrogen peroxide is 6.2 (ideal for contact with blood and tissue), so consuming a spoonful of honey or applying it to an open wound will activate these unique properties.
Honey is good for your insides and also for your outsides. Try honey on skin irritations, scratchy throats, or a mask to make your face glow. Here we recommend some other not so common uses of honey.
Cuts, burns, and scratches
It is a fact that when new skin grows as a result of open wounds, it heals faster if it is kept clean, warm, and moist. This is why honey is ideal for soothing cuts, burns, scratches. It acts as a sealant to keep skin abrasions moist and clean while new skin is growing. Honey has been known to reduce blistering burns and speeds up the regeneration of new tissue with less scarring. A medical grade honey has been developed for use as a wound dressing in hospitals by doctors called Medihoney. It is available only by prescription, and I can bet that most beekeepers would claim their own honey is the best medicine.
Fixing sore throats and coughs
I think we can all agree that there is something comforting about swallowing a spoonful of honey. The sweet, syrupy liquid just feels good slowly slipping down the back of your throat. Honey gives instant comfort to the scratchiness associated with sore throats and seasonal allergies, and suppresses coughs better than some over-the-counter drugs without the side effects. It is common to find honey as an ingredient in cough suppressants and lozenges because it works. If you have not tried honey when you’re under the weather, you may be pleasantly surprised that honey is your best (and most natural) medicine.
Getting the honey glow
Honey may be great on toast, but have you tried honey on your face? More and more personal care products are touting the benefits of honey in their ingredients. No doubt you’ve seen honey in facial cleansers, shampoos, and moisturizers.
Honey can be used as a moisturizing face wash to reduce dryness. Honey is an excellent humectant that seals in the moisture in your skin, making it soft and supple. Honey’s antibacterial properties can help with acne on the surface of your skin by soothing and reducing inflammation.
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