HONEY

 HONEY

A matter of universal delight is honey – a plant product widely sought after for its value as a natural product of medicinal value for infants and adults alike. Honey is gathered by bees [Apis] visiting only specific plant species collecting several thousand droplets of floral secretions [nectar] which is enzymatically refined in insect stomach before final deposition to the hexagonal cells in a Beehive. The hive is a waxy housing built by meticulous designing by respective bee groups. Curiously honey bees have boss–slave hierarchy in each group.

   The demand for this ‘Nature’s Gift’ [honey]  is so high that spurious traders roam around human dwellings/ colonies dressing themselves as tribes from some hilly locality claiming to have procured from hills /hill cliffs the venerated ‘Hill honey’ மலை தேன் ; some claim to have gathered honey from precarious branch tips also popular as from tall tree branches named கொம்பு தேன் The true value is by the honeybees that build their hives to be away from human interference. The location on mountain cliff or tree branches is typical for honeybee variety. So, the honey processed by the bees would be typical by chemistry, aroma , pH and other characteristics governed by parent plant and the honeybee species that processes the floral nectar. S0, what obtains in nature from the  beehives is a ‘processed’ fluid as, the gathered floral nectar resides in the bee-gut before it is regurgitated by the ‘collector bee’ Several changes occur before the floral nectar turns honey.

PROPERTIES OF HONEY                       These include total sugar, water content and the sugar content is remarkably high [more than water can hold at room temperature]. So, glucose precipitates into solid granules in a solution of fructose.

In several systems of medicine, honey is a topical antibiotic and by late 1890s honey has been shown to possess anti-bacterial activity. This feature of honey is said to include gram - /gram + bacterial strains. However the efficacy is a variable governed by honey types collected from different plant sources. What matters is the plant source and the collector-bee variety. More recent instances of bacterial strains showing drug resistance has prompted detailed analysis/research of varied honey  types  for their anti-bacterial potency especially for methylglyoxal, hydrogen peroxide, defensin-1 [royalisin]

Water accounts for 16-17%. sugar 51% [glucose 44%] besides galactose, sucrose and maltose. Very low protein [0.3%] and no fat [0%] are constituents of honey.  The typical aroma and sugary taste, besides medicinal value is advantageous in oral medication for infants and children by tongue-smearing of medicine coalesced in honey. Children do not spit the medicine delivered through honey. Honey is a home remedy through ages.