The fear of the Lord is clean, and endures forever;
the judgments of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.
More desired are they than gold, more than much fine gold;
sweeter far than honey, than honey in the comb.
Psalm 19: 9-10
Today, I’m continuing my series on foods of the Bible. Last week, I shared information and recipes using olive oil. This week, I’m turning my attention to honey.
Honey appears over and over in the Bible. It represents delight and joy in God’s Word and wisdom, sustenance and abundance, and it is a sign of the Promised Land: land overflowing with milk and honey!
I use honey every day in my morning tea. I use it as sweetener for yeast in bread. It is versatile enough to use as a spread for a biscuit with butter, or in dressings, marinades, desserts and baked goods.
What is honey? Very simply, female bees suck up nectar from flowers into their “honey sacs” and then regurgitate it to one another until it thickens and eventually, one them deposits it into a honeycomb, where it is stored for food for the hive.
Bees are so, so smart and successful as long as humans and nature aren’t messing with them too much. They have a tireless work ethic, they’re great team players and I certainly admire their moxie. For example, bees notoriously (and very suddenly) outgrow their hives and have to relocate in a hurry. When this happens, scout bees will go out to look for a new location and then report back to each other using frenetic dances as their mode of communication: the more dazzling the dance, the more committed the scout bee is to the new location; the less frenetic, the less committed. Bees are just wonderful–and extremely important to agriculture and to our environment. Really–where would we be without bees?
Honey is great, too! Sure, ok, it’s sugar. But honey has other things going for it besides just being a sweetener–like olive oil, it’s full of polyphenols which are natural antioxidants and anti-inflammatories. Also, because it is antimicrobial, antiviral and anti fungal, nothing really grows in it, so it supposedly lasts forever. Evidently, archeologists discovered honey in King Tut’s tomb in 1922. They tried it and found that it was still sweet and edible. But leave it to Mr. Stone Soup to ask the threshold question: how did they know it was honey? I thought about this for a moment said “I honestly have no idea–I mean, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t in on of those plastic bear squeezy bottles, right?”
All I can say is: being willing to taste 3,000-year-old honey has got to be some kind of world-record-setting commitment to one’s job. I wouldn’t do it. In fact, I wouldn’t consume honey after a few years of it hanging around my pantry. There are things that can make honey go bad–moisture, foreign substances, etc., that can compromise the honey. But–let’s just leave it at: honey has a long shelf life.
In addition to having a long shelf life, honey is an antimicrobial and an anti-inflammatory, making it an ideal natural remedy for a sore throat, and can also be beneficial in healing wounds. And with all those beneficial polyphenols, it may help combat certain cancers and heart disease.
I will give this one admonition: I have read that babies under the age of one should not consume honey, as there is a risk of infant botulism.
Today, I’m sharing my favorite dressing for a fruit salad: honey and lime dressing, as in this delicious salad:
And this one, that features watermelon and honeydew:
Join me tomorrow when we take a deeper dive into all things honey!
Until then,
Peace, love and good food,
Keri
