Honey is a by-product of flower nectar and the upper aero-digestive tract of the honey bee, which is concentrated through a dehydration process inside the bee hive. Honey has a very complex chemical composition that varies depending on the botanical source.

Honey is used in food products, candles, skincare, cosmetics, and medicine. Pollinating bees are essential to the health and longevity of our planet. Other products that come from bees include beeswax, propolis, pollen, royal jelly, and honeycomb.

Honey is full of a variety of vitamins and essential minerals, antioxidants, and amino acids. Eating honey is a natural way to get an energy boost. It is a mixture of simple sugars glucose and fructose. Studies have shown that this works best in preventing fatigue and enhancing athletes performance.

In addition to its use as a natural sweetener, honey is used as an anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antibacterial agent. People commonly use honey orally to treat coughs and topically to treat burns and promote wound healing.

The Bottom Line. Honey has been linked to health benefits like improved heart health, wound healing, and blood antioxidant status. However, consuming too much may cause adverse effects due to its high sugar and calorie content. Thus, it's best to use honey to replace other forms of sugar and enjoy it in moderation.

From Bee. Honey starts as flower nectar collected by bees, which gets broken down into simple sugars stored inside the honeycomb. The design of the honeycomb and constant fanning of the bees' wings causes evaporation, creating sweet liquid honey. Honey's color and flavor vary based on the nectar collected by the bees.

In modern times, honey is still sometimes collected from wild bee colonies, but most of the worldwide production comes from domesticated beehives. The leading five worldwide producers alone, China, Turkey, Argentina, Ukraine and the United States, harvest annually a combined 1.2 million metric tons of natural honey.

Interesting facts:

• Honey can be stored for eternity.
• The world of honey varieties is huge.
• Honey is basically of two types.
• Bees work extraordinarily hard to make honey.
• 1/12 teaspoon requires entire life.
• Magically Medicinal.
• Healthy sweet treat.
• Bees themselves keep the temperature under check.

Honey is the only natural edible product that consists of all the substances necessary to sustain life, including vitamins, enzymes, minerals, and water. It's also the only natural edible product that contains pinocembrin that improves brain functioning. Honey stored in airtight containers never spoils.

Learn more.

• Aunt Sue's Raw & Unfiltered Clover Honey.
• Gunter's Pure Honey.
• Gefen Clover Honey.
• Billy Bee Pure Canadian Clover Honey.
• 365 by Whole Foods Market Light Amber Mountain Forest Honey.
• Happy Belly Clover Honey.
• Nature Nate's Raw and Unfiltered Honey.

What are the permissible parameters of honey?

Honey is food made by bees for bees, but many people also enjoy it. Humans have prized honey for its sweet taste for thousands of years. Some researchers say honey is more than a sweetener. It may also have health benefits, though there is little evidence for some of its medicinal uses.

10 surprising health benefits of honey

• Honey contains nutrients beneficial to health.
• Raw honey is rich in antioxidants.
• Using honey to replace table sugar helps improve diabetes.
• The antioxidants in honey help lower blood pressure.
• Honey helps improve cholesterol.
• Honey helps reduce triglyceride levels.

honey, sweet, viscous liquid food, dark golden in colour, produced in the honey sacs of various bees from the nectar of flowers. Flavour and colour are determined by the flowers from which the nectar is gathered. Some of the most commercially desirable honeys are produced from clover by the domestic honeybee.

In modern times, honey is still sometimes collected from wild bee colonies, but most of the worldwide production comes from domesticated beehives. The leading five worldwide producers alone, China, Turkey, Argentina, Ukraine and the United States, harvest annually a combined 1.2 million metric tons of natural honey.

15 Countries that Produce the Best Quality Honey in the World

• United States. Tupelo Honey: $61.72/kg.
• Mexico. Avocado Honey: $63.45/kg.
• Australia. Manuka Honey MGO 100+: $107.9/kg.
• Nepal. Himalayan Honey: $120.5/kg.
• France. Opéra Garnier Honey: $129.6/kg.
• Spain. Miel Lo Mejor del Bierz: $162/kg.
• Russia.
• Ethiopia.