Apiarists think that honey produced by honeybees from the nectar of flowers gives strength and health to people.
In a Lithuanian's world outlook bees have always been the symbol of holiness, solidarity, diligence and high morality. The
bees are highly respected because it is holy and brings prosperity to a man. In our country honey has been used to make a meal
and produce mead for over 4000 years. For about 2000 years it has been used to treat many ailments. The ancient Egyptians believed
honey as having curative properties. It was considered to be a remedy for almost all diseases. It could improve a man's sleep and
make it deep and profound; honey was used to beat stress and, by all means, it was a way of staying strong and young. In Ancient
Egypt and Rome honey was supposed to give wisdom to a man. The ancient doctor Hippocrates used honey in treating people and advised
them to take it every day in order to prolong their lives. Democritus thought that if you want to keep fit and stay healthy you should
use honey or rub your skin with honey-oils. He suggested that people over 45 years or older should take honey constantly. Bee-honey
according to the Japanese is the only pure product in the world.
Honey is a sweet and viscous fluid produced by honeybees. The little creatures fly to millions of flowers, gathering tiny
droplets of nectar which the flowers offer to them. The different flowers that the honeybee visits to collect the nectar to make honey
determine the color, flavor and aroma of the honey. The co lour of the honey (lighter or darker) depends on iron and other chemical
compounds in the nectar.
Types of honey
The type of honey depends on the type of flowering plants from which the nectar was collected. There is not a distinctive division of honey.
Bees never collect the nectar and pollen from the same flower types. Honey is classified by the period when it was collected (what types of
flowers are in bloom).
The honey collected from lime-trees is one of the best types of honey.
A light yellow lime blossom honey has a pleasant scent. It is used to treat cold illnesses such as a common cold, tonsillitis,
pharyngitis, laryngitis, bronchitis, also liver and kidney illnesses and to heal a festering sore.
Clover honey has a sweet, flowering flavor and a pleasing mild taste. It is light
amber and when it is crystallized it becomes almost white. Clover honey is often used as a dietary food.
Buckwheat honey is pungent honey with molasses and malty flavors and a lingering aftertaste.
The honey is dark, purple, usually referred to black. The crystallized buckwheat honey is sticky. It is used to treat anemia and fragile vascular
tissues.
Heather honey is amber-colored with an aromatic flavor and a pungent aroma like buckwheat honey.
Dandelion honey is a deep yellow with a strong taste and smells like the flower.
This type of honey is used to remove the pain and reduce the inflammation of the respiratory system.
Honeydew (well-known in many western countries) is often dark because is collected
from the leaves, the saps of the pines. There is a lot of dextrin, mineral materials, saccharose and less inverted sugar in it than in the honey
collected from the nectar. It has a lot of alkaline soils such as kalium and natrium, less water and more proteins. As honeydew lacks water but
contains more proteins, dextrin it is much more viscous than the floral honey.
Chemical composition
Honey is sweet, viscous, insect- produced and collected from the nectar of flowers.
Nectar is a sweet liquid which is produced in glands called nectaries. It is made from water, sugar
(saccharose), monosaccharin, (glucose, fructose), dextrin, alcohol, nitrogenous and aromatic compounds, minerals, acids, enzymes,
vitamins, volatile oils. The chemical composition of honey will depend largely on the mix of flowers consumed by the bees that produced
the honey. Honey contains 18-20 % of water, about 80% of carbohydrates (glucose, fructose, dextrin, maltose), 0,4% of proteins, organic
acids, enzymes, minerals ( calcium, natrium, kalium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, magnesium, zinc), vitamins, (B1, B2, B6, C, PP, H, K, E),
alkaloids. Different types of honey have a specific taste. Volatile oils give a pleasant flavor. 100 gr of honey contains 0,3-3,3% of proteins,
77,2% of carbohydrates and 335 calories.
