HONEY

Honey is defined by the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists, and by most food chemists as the nectar and saccharine exudations of plants, gathered, modified and stored in the comb by honeybees (Apis mellifica and Apis dosata). The sap of certain trees sometimes gathered by bees, or the product obtained by feeding the bees sugar sirup or glucose, cannot be regarded as true honey. (See Farmers' Bulletin, No. 653, 1915.)

History

From the very earliest history of our race, we read of the use of "wild honey" which was stored as food by the bees in the crevices of the rocks, and in hollow trees. On account of its sweetness and delicate flavor, it was regarded as a luxury and at the same time a delicious addition to the daily food. The honeybee is also one of the most beneficial of insects on account of cross-pollinating the flowers of various economic plants. There are quite a number of instances on record in which numbers of people have been poisoned by eating honey which the bees had gathered from poisonous flowers. Sometimes this honey causes headache, nausea, and a kind of intoxication, but the results of the illness are seldom fatal.

As sufficient honey could not be obtained from the stores of the wild bees, man soon learned to raise the swarms in hives, under his own control. The hives1 are so constructed as to afford the bees protection against inclement weather and to allow the removal from time to time of "frames" or boxes which the bees have filled with honey. The invention of the movable frame hive in 1851, by L. L. Langstroth of Philadelphia, marked a great advance in this industry. These hives hold from eight to ten frames, and one of their best features is making the spaces between frames, side walls and "supers" accurate so there is just room for the

2

1 U. S. Dept. of Agri. Farmers' Bull. No. 59.

* Cyclopedia of American Agriculture.

easy passage of the bees. A comb foundation stamped from wax upon which the bees start to build their combs is often placed in each box.

Comb Honey vs. Extracted Honey

Honey is frequently put on the market as comb honey, and in this form is not liable to adulteration, but there is also a demand for strained honey. The comb honey commands a better price

and usually retains to the greatest extent its delicate flavor. Extracted honey or strained honey is more suitable for shipping long distances. The honey is usually extracted by carefully cutting with a knife the top of the honey cells and then spinning the honey out with a centrifugal machine. (Fig. 27.) The comb by this method is left in a condition to be returned to the hive for refilling. From broken fragments of comb "strained honey" is allowed to flow by gravity, and the remaining fragments of comb are washed, melted and strained for commer

cial beeswax. The latter is bleached either artificially or by sunlight to make "white wax." Refiners often blend different kinds of strained honey to obtain an agreeable product.

Composition

Genuine honey is a mixture containing not more than 8 per cent. and usually not over 2 per cent. of sucrose or crystallizable sugar, and an average of 75 per cent. of the two sugars, levulose and dextrose, taken together.1 The average amount of moisture 1U. S. Dept. Agri. Bur. Chem. Bull. 110, p. 52.

is about 17 per cent. and the ash 0.18 per cent. Whenever the dextrose is in excess of the levulose the presence of adulterants is to be suspected.

Honey as Food

On account of the inverted condition in which most of the sugar occurs, honey is generally regarded as a very wholesome food. It is actually richer in sugar than the "malt extracts" recommended for invalids; and as the sugar is in a form that may be readily assimilated if taken in moderate quantities, it forms a valuable addition to the diet.

Adulteration

The most common adulterants of honey are cane-sugar sirup, glucose and a product made by the inversion of cane sugar by acids. The presence of these can, however, be detected by the chemist, and since the enforcement of National and State food inspection laws, adulterated strained honey, which was formerly one of the most common products on the market, has been almost completely eliminated. A method of falsification formerly practised was to place some honey comb and a few dead bees in the can of so-called honey in order to convey the idea that the product was genuine. If the honey is purchased in the comb as capped with wax by the bees, there is little danger that it is not genuine. It is true that bees may have been fed on glucose or cane sugar, but as they do not thrive on this diet, the practice is not very common. Crystallization is more likely to occur in pure than in impure honey. The crystals may be dissolved by heating in a double boiler. Honey keeps best if stored in a warm, dry place.

Favorable Localities

In the United States, honey can be produced almost anywhere, but in northern regions the winters are sometimes so severe that the bees do not survive, and in some sections flowers yielding

nectar are not abundant enough. The locality has therefore considerable influence on the quality of the product. An interesting illustration of this is in the fact that the Hawaiian honey shows a larger amount of common salt in the ash than do other honeys, and in the lower grades there is so much "honey dew," which is gathered by the bees from the exudations produced by various scale insects and plant lice, that this honey has sometimes been suspected as not being genuine.

Quality

The quality of honey is much influenced by the character of the flowers visited by the bees; so we have "buckwheat" honey which is dark and has a strong flavor, and "white clover honey" which has the reputation for possessing a most delicate taste. The honey made from the flowers of the alfalfa, mellilotus, golden rod, thyme, sage, orange, apple tree, gum tree and basswood has in each case a characteristic flavor. In Abyssinia a peculiar wine is made by the fermentation of honey. Mead and metheglin are also alcoholic beverages made by the fermentation of honey.

Statistics

In regard to the production of honey in the United States the statistics show that California produces the largest amount. Other important honey-producing states are New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Ohio. In the Eastern Hemisphere the most honey is produced in the Mediterranean region.

The average annual yield per colony in the United States is 40 to 50 pounds of comb honey.

CHAPTER V

ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES1

Alcoholic beverages may be divided into two classes: (A) Fermented beverages and

(B) Distilled beverages.

The fermented beverages are sub-divided into two classes: 1. Those fermented without the addition of yeast.

2. Those fermented with the addition of yeast (Malt Liquors).

A. FERMENTED BEVERAGES

1. Those beverages fermented without the addition of yeast are wine, cider, perry and similar beverages made by the natural fermentation of saccharine fruit juices, and a few beverages made by the natural fermentation of starchy solutions.

Malt Liquors

2. Those beverages fermented with the addition of yeast include ale, beer, lager beer, porter and stout.

History

The manufacture of fermented liquors from grains is of very ancient origin, at least 2,000 years old. The process was known to the ancient Egyptians, Romans, Spaniards, and Germans, and was introduced by the latter into Great Britain and later

1 Beverages, both non-intoxicating and intoxicating, are classified under the general head of foods, and are therefore here discussed,