By Dr. med. Claudia Schmiemann
Honey is produced by honey bees that are either wild living or domesticated. The honey collecting bee leaves the hive and collects nectar and/or honeydew (the secretion of aphids) and sucks up this sweet fluid into the honey stomach. This is a part of the bees GI tract that is above the ordinary stomach. Up to 40 ml can be stored in this place. Usually the crop comes from up to 1000 different flowers. The nectar/honeydew is refined by enzymatic processes and once the honey collecting bee returns to the hive it regurgitates it and passes it on to a colleague that takes it into the hive. The nectar is further processed in a way that the water content decreases from 70-80% down to 17-19 %. This way the honey is durable and honeycombs can be closed until it is used in winter times to feed the hive.
When we take honey from hives we take out the honeycombs, open the lids of the hexagonal combs and spin them in a centrifuge. In order to provide food for the hive we offer them sugar water instead. As the sugar water is much lower in quality compared to honey, we want to take only a small portion of the honey so that the hive is not weakened.
Raw and unpasteurized honey contains Fructose, Glucose, Maltose and Sucrose. Moreover it is rich in enzymes, minerals and trace elements. You want to enjoy this precious food cold as you would denature the enzymes by heating it up.
コメント