Emergency food: honey

I was messing around with a few of my long term home brew batches one of them being a traditional Norwegian mead and I remembered something that might interest you guys. Honey never goes bad, period. They found jars of honey in Egyptian tombs and it was still good. I had a 5 gallon bucket of buck wheat honey that my dad gave me from when he was making mead five years ago. All you have to do is scoop out the crystallized honey into a pot and heat it up with a little water to re hydrate it. Honey could be a really nice treat to put in your cache and you don’t have to worry about anything happening to it.

 

FYI: 5 gallons of honey will run you about $100 - $150 but that's more than you should need unless you're making mead.

 

I am getting my honey the slow way, have a hive of Italian honey bees.
Overbore

 

I always thought having a hive would be fun but i don't have the time to devote to that kind of project.

 

My father suprised me by talking about getting into beekeeping. It seems like a very interesting hobby; the uses (pollenating crops) and rewards (get paid for setting up hives for farmers) are far reaching. Plus you end up with honey. The big downside right now is that a large majority of bees and whole hives keep dissapearing.

There was someone on this board talking about royal jelly. That is the stuff the workerbees feed the queen bee. It is loaded with vitamins and calories. I don't know where you can get any though.

 

http://www.nextag.com/royal-honey/search-html looks like it's a bit pricey though.

 

Absolutely true...Whenever I'm buying honey, I only take the jars that are crystallized. That's the proof that the honey is all natural, from plants. If its not crystallizing, it's not natural, but the bees were fed artificially with sugar...When I want it in liquid form, I put the jar in bigger pot with hot water and it melts in minutes.

 

It has also been used in the past to treat wounds through the process of osmosis

 

I have read that natural honey contains antibiotics, and can speed healing when applied as a poultice.
I came to honey late in life - didn't care for that type of sweetness when young, as I was "hooked on sugar". Now I use either raw sugar or honey in my coffee. A different taste, but quite good once you are used to it!

I figure a person could likely get by for some time with nothing more than honey and peanutbutter. A PB&H sandwich on whole wheat bread - YUMMY!!

 

My preference is for Tupelo honey. It does not crystalize and keeps forever. I use honey in coffee, tea, cooking, and for sore throats. I also use honey instead of white sugar when baking bread as it seems to foam better with the warm water and yeast.
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peanut butter and honey is yummy

I think I read that honey is 0.75% the sweetness of pure cane sugar.

 

Honey is equivalent to sugar-spoon for spoon. Honey right off the combs is a light golden color. If you are close to Charlotte(Indian Trail) I can get you a five gallon bucket for @ $60(last yrs prices). Will check to see if he has plenty if anyone is interested. I still have a couple of gallons that are probably ten yrs old. Side note: in a shtf scenario sugar will be one of the first things to disappear from the shelves. Salt/pepper/etc. will go quickly also. Honey is one of the best hedges one can find. Like above-it keeps indefinately and is much better for us than sugar.

 

True...also good natural antibiotic...

 

Honey is what the body wants

Honey is a source of carbohydrates — mainly fructose (about 38.5 percent) and glucose (about 31.0 percent). The remaining carbohydrates include maltose, sucrose and other complex carbohydrates. On average, honey is 17.1 percent water.

In addition, honey contains a wide array of vitamins, such as vitamin B6, thiamin, niacin, riboflavin and pantothenic acid. Essential minerals including calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, sodium and zinc as well as several different amino acids have been identified in honey. (Some of these compounds exist in quantities less than 10 percent of the recommended daily requirement.)

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Honey also contains several compounds which function as antioxidants — compounds that may help delay the oxidative damage to cells or tissues in our bodies. Known antioxidant compounds in honey are chrysin, pinobanksin, vitamin C, catalase and pinocembrin.


All and all, like the old Malt-o-meal commercial said..."Good Stuff Meynard".
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Yup...Honey rules! I'll be storing lot of honey, but only getting it from private bee keepers and if completely hardened and solid...
Also can be used like antiseptic directly on wounds, and as immune booster...

 

Top Bar Hive for anyone

here is an interesting design that i'm going to bee building this winter.
Top Bar Bee Hive: Perfect for Backyard Beehives

 

I pay a bit less than that from a local aviary. It's un-filtered too.

Delicious!

 

"Apiary" is bees. "Aviary" is birds. Just sayin'.......