Honey facts

Straight from the beehive

Honey is a natural product ready to eat straight from the beehive. It is a sweet substance made by honeybees from the nectar the honeybees collect from different flowers. They store the nectar in the honeycombs in the beehive, mix it with their own enzymes, dehumidify the nectar and finally cover it with a thin layer of protective beeswax.

The sugars in honey are dextrose and fructose, which is a sugar that can be absorbed by the body and directly used as energy. The relation between dextrose and fructose determines whether the honey will stay fluid or crystallize over time. This is natural and decided by nature.

Honey has been enjoyed by mankind for thousands of years. It is antibacterial and has therefore been used throughout the ages for colds and coughs. Honey consists of about 75% sugars, water, and about 5% proportion of enzymes, minerals, and vitamins. It is important to handle the honey gently and avoid heating in order to preserve all the wholesome ingredients. The natural temperature inside the beehive is 32°C – 36°C and temperatures above that should be avoided.

Real honey

For honey to be called honey, it must be made by honeybees and the nectar they collect. Nothing else. If the bees are fed with sugar which they store in the beehive, it is not honey. If something is added to the honey like a flavoring agent or anything that is used to try to “improve” the product, it is no longer honey. So, what is it then?

Well, it is something else. “A honey and flavoring agent mix”. This may sound like semantics, but it is important for the consumer to know what they buy and consume. This is clearly defined by the European Union (EU).

If the nectar in the honey comes from one specific type of flower to more than 50 %, it can be called by the name of that flower. Examples are raspberry honey, apple bloom honey, and linden honey just to name a few. This does not mean that e.g. raspberry honey tastes raspberry but it will have a lot of other tastes. And as mentioned above, if you would add a flavoring agent of raspberry, it will taste raspberry, but it would not be honey anymore.