Let’s hear it for the bees, and the many wonderful ways we can enjoy their honey.
When I was little, I’d sit on the sofa and watch animated Winnie the Pooh videos from the 1960s with an egg cup full of honey. I couldn’t get through the videos without running to the kitchen for a few spoonfuls – Pooh made honey look so good. Golden, thick, shining and drizzly, honey was the only food that Pooh ever wanted or needed.
Humans have loved honey for a long time, too – a prehistorically long time. Cave paintings in Cuevas de la Araña in Spain show humans foraging for honey over 8,000 years ago. However long humans and bears (real or animated) have enjoyed honey, it is of course a product and food source of bee colonies.
Honey is produced by bees gathering, refining, fermenting and curing sugars, typically from the nectar in flowers. The honeying process happens partly within the bees themselves, through enzymatic activity and regurgitation (vomiting), and during storage in the wax cells of honeycomb within the hives, where the water evaporates, creating thick, concentrated honey. Bees then feed on the energy-dense honey when other types of food are scarce.
As well as nectar, honey can be made from the honeydew created by other insects, like aphids, cicadas, and caterpillars (I, for one, would be thrilled to see “aphid honey” and “caterpillar honey” on our supermarket shelves). This is where it gets a little bit gross: I’ve heard about honeydew being “secreted” from aphids, but what actually happens is when the aphid’s mouthpart cuts into the plant, the sugary liquid from the phloem is forced out of the aphid’s anus.
So. Yes.
Not only is honey vomited up by bees, but some honey is also pooed out by aphids. I don’t think that would put Pooh off his honeypots, and for me it just adds an element of humorous and fascinating grossness which I always appreciate.
Where to find honey
When you search “honey” in Countdown’s online shopping site, 180 items appear. So in an effort to retain my sanity while conducting a fair price comparison, I’ve chosen the only honey available across New World, Pak’nSave, Countdown, and Supie: 500g jars of locally produced Airborne Honey, in the creamed clover, liquid clover, and bush honey varieties.
At Countdown, the special Club price for these standard varieties of Airborne Honey is $7.40 for 500g – $8.20 when not on special. At New World, the same jar of honey is $6.69 for Clubcard holders, and $8.19 if you’re sadly missing a card. Pak’nSave’s standard price is $6.79 – no card required.
Taking the win, however, it’s Supie once again – $6.50 for your local, sugary, creamed honey pot.
Mānuka honey is also widely available, if you want its lovely strong and earthy flavour and potential health benefits.
How to make honey terrible
Now, this is a tricky one – can honey become terrible?
Getting honey in your hair isn’t much fun. Letting honey get so old that it granulates and becomes gritty is a textural disappointment for the palate. Eating so much that you become sick, like consuming too much of any sugar, is ill advised.
But unlike most foods, sealed honey can’t really spoil, because it doesn’t provide a friendly environment for microorganisms. In fact, honey that’s thousands of years old – found in archaeological contexts – can still be edible, so you don’t need to stress about your honey’s best before date.
How to let honey make your food amazing
Other than spreading a drizzle of honey on hot, buttery Vogel’s toast, or enjoying some baklava as a special treat, my most common honey usage is in salad dressing. A long dash of balsamic vinegar, three dashes of olive oil, a minced clove of garlic, a dab of mustard, vigorous grinds of salt and pepper, and a slow-oozing spoonful of honey makes the perfect dressing for a leafy salad. Shake in a jar and keep on the bench to use for weeks to come.
If you want to try something new with honey, here are two of my favourite honey-infused dinners. Number one… honey-glazed miso chicken meatballs with spicy mayo, fresh rolls, and slaw. So good. Just so good. Another great option is using honey to marinate chicken, like these honey mustard chicken drumsticks. Saucy, sweet, tender, with a kick from the mustard – they’re a satisfying and easy dinner.
This isn’t exactly a food recommendation, but if you have a spare thirty minutes, spend it reading articles about bee behaviour. It’s honestly wilder than Game of Thrones, and will make you appreciate honey on another level.
Wyoming Paul is the co-founder of Grossr, a recipe management website where you can create recipes, discover chefs and follow meal plans.