HONEY: is the sucrose secreted by the glands of flowers, extracted by the proboscides of the working bees and inverted in their crops or honey bags into Invert Sugar or Dextrose and Levulose sugars (see article on GLUCOSE). At the hive, the bee disgorges his burden into the cells of the comb as a reserve supply of food for the colony. As thus at first deposited the honey is a thin liquid—it attains its later syrupy consistence by evaporation.
A hive of fifty to seventy-five thousand bees will yield an average of about one pound of honey daily dur ing the season, the quantity rising to two to three pounds a day at the height of the season. If left to their own devices, the bees begin their annual work by building the combs, the process taking about half their time. After many failures, bee-keepers have found that they can supply thin transparent layers of pure wax stamped into foundations for the cells in such a way as to be acceptable to the bees, who complete the cell portion much more quickly and proceed sooner to actual honey gathering. Man can make more foundation in a minute than the bees in a dozen hives could draw out all sum m er.
Comb Honey is that straight from the hives. The little square or oblong frames familiar to the consumer are fitted with the comb foundation referred to, and then placed in the hives for the bees to work in. The bees not only make the honey we eat, but also put it up in pack ages for us! Virgin Honey is that which flows spontaneously from the combs. The term was formerly applied to that made by the younger bees before swarming.
Strained Honey is that extracted from the combs, generally by centrifugal process —the rapid revolving of the combs inside mesh-cylinders causing the honey to exude. If the honey has been allowed to ripen sufficiently in the hives, or is properly evaporated after extraction, "strained honey" compares favorably in flavor and quality with Comb Honey.
Candied Honey, as marketed, is strained honey evaporated to solidity. It is a confection classed with Maple Sugar, etc.
Ninety per cent. of the honey consumed is sent to market extracted or "strained." It is shipped in cans which hold five gallons, or sixty pounds, two cans making a case.
Comb Honey and the better grades of Strained Honey, are sold for table use, while dark and coarse honey is used by bakers, confectioners, cracker makers and druggists. Hundreds of tons are annually consumed in the manufacture of sweet biscuits, as it has the peculiar quality of keeping them fresh and moist. The famous "Honey Bread" of Germany and France, leblacchen, pain d'epice, will keep a year or eighteen months without drying out.
Honey has been employed as food from the remotest times. In moderation it is nutritious and laxative, though some dyspeptic persons find that it aggravates their symptoms. Its composition varies according to the food of the bees, their age, the season, etc. The invert sugar (dextrose and levulose) ranges from 60% to 90%; sucrose (corresponding to "ordinary" sugar) from nothing to 10%. It was formerly adul terated to a considerable extent by the addition of commercial invert sugar and com raercial glucose, but the presence of either of these adulterants is easily ascertained on analysis, and the enforcement of Federal and State Food Laws has practically eliminated the fraud.
The flavors of honey before blending vary as much as, or more than, those of fruits. Mountain Sage is very mild; Buckwheat is so strong as to be almost biting to the palate ; Basswood has a pronounced mint taste ; White Clover is milder than Basswood and stronger Moil]] tain Sage; Alfalfa resembles White Clover, with usually a slight mint taste. The !wild honey of Cuba, Mexico, etc., is generally highly aromatic.
The comparative merits of honey flavors is largely a matter of individual taste. In the East, to describe any honey as "equal to White Clover" is to style it as equal to the very finest, yet many judges and all Western consumers consider Alfalfa superior to White Clover.