Who here loves honey? Honey is an incredible substance -- and it’s not just tasty on biscuits and fruit. It can be used to make everything from alcohol to soap. To celebrate our partnership with Hon’s Honey, here are a few cool facts you didn’t know about honey...and don’t forget to get some honey products from them on our website!
- Honey’s flavor comes from the pollen that bees are gathering
You might think you know what honey tastes like, but if you’ve only ever had clover, orange blossom, or wildflower honey, you could be in for a surprise! There are so many other natural flavors of honey out there, like blackberry, tupelo, and and sage. It all depends on which plants the bees that made the honey have visited.
- The name ‘Melissa’ comes from the Greek word for honey bee
Do you know a Melissa? Well, she’s probably pretty sweet! ‘Mel’ is the Greek root for honey, and ‘Meliss’ refers to honey bees. The same root gives us the word ‘mellifluous’, which means sweet-sounding. Don’t confuse it with the Greek root ‘mal’, which means bad or evil!
- Only seven species of bees make honey
There are thousands of bee species on Earth -- over 20,000, in fact! They do all kinds of things, like build nests, dig holes, and pollinate plants. But out of all of those bees, only seven species actually create honey.
- Honey bees have to learn how to make honey
A newborn bee doesn’t automatically know how honey-making happens! Instead, older, more experienced bees show the newbies (or should we say, new-bees) the ropes. Soon, the young bees will become essential members of life in the hive.
- The average American consumes a pound of honey every year
What’s your favorite thing to eat with honey? It’s popular with tea, yogurt, freshly baked bread, and of course as a glaze for meat. No matter how you enjoy it, you’re probably eating about a pound of it every year.
- Honey never spoils (under the right conditions)
If you leave honey out or let it get wet, yes, it will spoil -- it’s not magic (even if it tastes pretty magical). However, if you store honey properly by putting it in an airtight container in a cool, dry place, it will indeed never go bad. Honey has natural antibacterial properties that keep spoilage at bay.
- Some wasps also make honey
We don’t normally associate wasps with making delicious honey, but some of them do! The Mexican Honey Wasp, for example, creates honey, just like bees. You might not get to eat wasp honey anytime soon, but you probably still benefit from their existence -- they’re pollinators of tasty Mexican avocados, too.
