Honey

Although there are about 20,000 different species of bees in the world, only the honeybee makes the kind of honey we are used to eating. These bees produce honey to feed themselves, which makes them different from creatures that eat things like fruits, nuts and other insects. Honeybees make honey as a way of storing and saving food for colder months when they are not able to leave their hive as often and there are not as many flowers to gather food from. Once honey bees find a flower, they will use their proboscis (a retractable, sucking mouthpart) like a straw to suck nectar, a sugary juice, out of the plant. The nectar is stored in a second stomach, the Honey Sac (a stomach-like organ connected to the digestive tract) that stores nectar. After they have filled up their second stomach, the bees will return to their hive and start to pass the nectar through their mouths to other bees. These bees will chew on the nectar for about 30 minutes and then pass it along to another bee. As the nectar is passed from bee to bee, it is turned into honey.

Once the nectar becomes honey, the honeybees will store it in honeycomb cells, which are made of wax. The bees then flap their wings over the honey to make it thicker and more like syrup instead of sweet juice. Once the honey is ready, the bees will seal the cell using a wax lid to store it for later. Honey is stored in the combs in the upper parts of the hive. When the bees have filled the combs in the upper section with honey and covered them with wax caps, the beekeeper takes them away to extract the honey. Honey for human consumption is collected from wild bee colonies, or from the hives of domesticated bees. The honey produced by honey bees is the most familiar to humans, thanks to its worldwide commercial production and availability. The husbandry of bees is known as beekeeping or apiculture, with the cultivation of stingless bees usually referred to as meliponiculture.

The main uses of honey are in cooking, baking, desserts, as a spread on bread, as an addition to various beverages such as tea, and as a sweetener in some commercial beverages. Due to its energy density, honey is an important food for virtually all hunter-gatherer cultures in warm climates, with the Hadza people ranking honey as their favorite food. Honey hunters in Africa have a mutualistic relationship with certain species of honeyguide birds. Possibly the world's oldest fermented beverage, dating from 9,000 years ago, mead ("honey wine") is the alcoholic product made by adding yeast to honey-water must and fermenting it for weeks or months. Evidence from Stone Age paintings shows treatment of disease with bee product such as honey originated from 8000 years ago.

Today, approximately 300 types of honey have been recognized. These varieties are related to the different types of nectar that are collected by the honeybees. The main composition of honey is carbohydrates that contribute 95–97% of its dry weight. Furthermore, honey includes main compounds, such as proteins, vitamins, amino acids, minerals, and organic acids. Pure honey also consists of flavonoids, polyphenols, reducing compounds, alkaloids, glycosides, cardiac glycosides, anthraquinone, and volatile compounds. Honey is a folk treatment for burns and other skin injuries. Preliminary evidence suggests that it aids in the healing of partial thickness burns 4–5 days faster than other dressings, and moderate evidence suggests that post-operative infections treated with honey heal faster and with fewer adverse events than with antiseptic and gauze.

Honey has long been used as a topical antibiotic by practitioners of traditional and herbal medicine. There is no evidence that honey is beneficial for treating cancer, although honey may be useful for controlling side effects of radiation therapy or chemotherapy used to treat cancer. Honey is generally safe when taken in typical food amounts, but it may have various, potential adverse effects or interactions in combination with excessive consumption, existing disease conditions, or drugs. Included among these are mild reactions to high intake, such as anxiety, insomnia, or hyperactivity in about 10% of children, according to one study. Honey can be used as a moisturizer, face mask, and hair conditioner. Honey can help improve digestion and relieve constipation.