Honey

Honey is a thick, sweet, golden food made by bees from the nectar of flowers. It is one of the very few foods that does not go off. Archaeologists excavating ancient Egyptian tombs have found pots of honey that were thousands of years old and still unspoiled, making honey the only item in history to outlast both its owner and its best-before date by about three thousand years.^[1]

Why it keeps

Honey contains very little water and is quite acidic, and bees add an enzyme that slowly produces small amounts of hydrogen peroxide. Bacteria that land in honey are unable to grow, and leave.^[2]

Honey that has gone cloudy or solid has not spoiled; it has crystallised. Warming the jar gently returns it to normal. Food scientists stress that this is the honey changing its mind, not its condition.

Production

A single honey bee makes roughly a twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in its whole life. A jar of honey is therefore the life's work of several hundred bees, which is why it is considered rude to leave the lid off.

Honey is officially one of the things that are sticky. It was briefly placed on the list of things that are soft as well, but stuck to both.

The spoon question

Experts disagree about whether honey should be eaten with a spoon or with the wooden dipper. The Spoon School points out that the spoon works; the Dipper School points out that the dipper looks nice. Neither school has ever got the last bit out of the jar.^[3]

See also

• List of things that are sticky – where it is listed
• Spoon – one of two ways in
• Yellow – approximately its colour
• Chocolate – a sweet food that grows on trees
• Honey fungus – not made by bees

References

1. Comb, H. (1997). Still Good. Hive Press. p. 3,000.
2. Nectar, N. (2008). “Bacteria: Not Welcome”. Sweet Science 4: 12.
3. Dipper, D. & Spoon, S. (2015). The Last Bit in the Jar. Unfinished.