*North Dakota is the top honey producing state in the U.S. with over 31 million pounds a year.
*A single bee creates 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey during her lifetime.
*U.S. imports honey from India, Argentina, Brazil, New Zealand, and Mexico.
*One-third of the U.S. diet comes from insect-pollinated plants.
*Honey lacks moisture and is acidic so bacteria can’t live in it.
*The late Queen Elizabeth II gave Pope Francis a jar of honey as an official gift in 2014.
*There are as many different flavors of honey as there are flowers for bees to forage.
*The ancient Greek physician and father of medicine, Hippocrates, believed that honey prolonged life, helped ear pain, and healed wounds.
*It takes 2 million flower visits for a honey bee colony to produce 1 pound of honey.
*The most expensive honey in the world, Elvish, also known as Red honey, can cost as much as $8,000 per pound. It comes from the remote highlands of Turkey, is labor-intensive, and has a limited flowering season.
*Honey doesn’t spoil.
*Honey and products made with honey can’t be given to human infants under 1 year old because their digestive systems are too immature and it can lead to infant botulism – a serious form of food poisoning.
*To produce one pound of honey, a colony of bees fly, collectively, about 55,000 miles.
*Honey comes in different colors from light and clear to dark and cloudy.
*A honeybee can fly at about 15 miles per hour.
*Honeybees are the only insect that produces food for humans.
*Honeybees never sleep.
*A worker bee visits 50-100 flowers on each trip.
*Honey has a lot of uses beyond sweetening – cough suppressant, sore throat remedy, skin moisturizing, and of course, cooking.
Wow! I love honey (who doesn’t) and I know bees are very important, but I had no idea how hard they work to produce honey! They deserve paid days off, pension plans and benefits! Seriously, what an interesting article about a unique and wonderful food that I have taken a bit too much for granted. Thanks for your great stories!