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Mil na nGailte - An Bia is FoláineGaltee Honey - Supreme Health Food
Galtee Honey is an Irish Honey from the white-clovered pastures of this rich Irish countryside, from blackthorn and bramble, hawthorn and holly, from shady sycamore and leafy lime, from the purple-heathered slopes of the Galtees, from the wild flowers of the field and the forest, comes the nectar which is the principal ingredient of Galtee honey. Gathered in tiny droplets by our busy bees and enhanced with their natural enzymes, it is stored and matured in their waxen warehouses to become one of man's most natural foods. |
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PollenThe other food substance collected by bees is pollen. Pollen is most vital to the honeybees, for without it they could not feed their young. It has a high protein content and can be used as a high quality food supplement for human consumption. Galtee Honey is not highly processed or too finely filtered. It therefore contains large quantities of local pollens which considerably enhances Galtee honey's beneficial health properties. Large quantities of pollen are eaten by nurse bees as it is essential for the production of bee milk or royal jelly which is the only food of the young bees in their first days of life and of the queen bee at all times. Traditional Irish Section Honey |
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Honey is so supersaturated that if it is kept in a cool place, the least soluble of the sugars start to crystallise out and the honey finally becomes granulated, but if granulated honey is warmed the crystals dissolve and the honey becomes liquid again.
If honey is not kept sealed in airtight containers it can deteriorate through fermentation. It is important to store it in dry conditions with low air temperatures.
The colour of liquid Irish honey can range from water white to almost black. The substances
responsible for the colour are still largely unknown. Minerals are among the principal
factors believed to be responsible. Generally, honey colour is described as light,
medium or dark, as determined by standard colour grading glasses. Light coloured honeys
usually have a delicate flavour whereas dark honeys are normally strong flavoured.
The honey being inspected
The following vitamins have been identified in honey... Vitamins B1, B2, B6, and C. Among the microscopic constituents in suspension in honey are pollen grains which the bees have collected from flowers during their process of nectar gathering. By the examination of the pollen content the origin and source of a sample of honey can be accurately identified. Honey contains acids, which contribute to its resistance to damage by micro-organisms. It also contains a wide range of amino acids and minute quantities of many different minerals, which originate in the plants and hence vary in different honeys.
Honey has a higher density than almost any other foodstuff - nearly 50% higher than the density of water. The viscosity (or speed of flow) of a particular honey depends largely on its water content and is thus linked with its relative density; the less water the higher the viscosity and the density. Honey is hygroscopic i.e. it absorbs water readily under certain conditions so that honey should never be left exposed to the air.
Honey bees can communicate the distance and direction of these sources to the worker bees of the hive by performing a variety of dances on the surface of the honeycomb within the hive.
On the journey from flowers to hive the foraging bee begins the long process of converting nectar to honey by adding to it secretions from her own glands including the all-important enzymes. The enzyme invertase "inverts" the sucrose in the nectar into the two simple sugars fructose and glucose. The enzyme diastase is involved in the breakdown of starch. Another enzyme, glucose oxidase, has a function in protecting partly formed honey against bacterial attack until its sugar content is high enough to do this. On its arrival at the hive the nectar is taken from the foragers by the house bees who then continue the conversion process by adding more enzymes while manipulating it and depositing it in the empty cells of the honeycomb so that the greatest possible surface is exposed to the circulating airstream which is used to draw off the excess moisture. Cold dry air is drawn into the hive by groups of fanning bees. This air is then circulated all through the hive and is eventually expelled again at the entrance when it is warm and moisture-laden. This work of fanning goes on right through the night until the moisture content of the honey is reduced to less than 20%. At this stage the honey is said to be "ripe". It is then that each full cell is sealed over with a capping of beeswax which prevents the further absorption of moisture by the hygroscopic honey.
By inverting sucrose into the two simple sugars, fructose and glucose at hive temperatures, the bees are able to produce a more concentrated solution of sugars than could otherwise be obtained, i.e. a supersaturated solution containing only about 18% water. This has two advantages for the bees, their stored food supply is resistant to spoilage by fermentation, even during year long storage, and it represents a high energy pack occupying minimal space.
The major components of honey are the sugars of which the monosaccharides, fructose and glucose, make up about 70% of the total. Disaccharides including sucrose may add about 10%, and the water in which the sugars are dissolved from 17% - 20%. Yet many of the characteristics for which honey is well known, e.g. its flavour, aroma, and colour, are determined not by these major components, but by others which are present in quite minute amounts. So far, 181 different substances have been identified in honey, some of which are not known to exist elsewhere.
About 800,000 tonnes of honey are harvested in the world each year, and most of the honey sold on the world market is used as table honey * (usually spread on bread or something similar), This large amount of honey is eaten in its natural state uncooked, and not mixed with any other product. There are not many foods of which the same can be said. Having honey to put on one's bread was an indication of good living long before butter and jam were used in this way. The nursery rhyme in which "The Queen was in the parlour Eating bread and honey" dates back at least to 1600. To this day honey is still eaten as a spread on bread, and also on oatcakes, biscuits, toast, tea cakes, scones, baps, waffles, crumpets, and pancakes. Many people prefer honey to sugar for sweetening tea or coffee, and hot milk, with a spoonful of honey stirred in, is a favourite night-cap or pick-me-up. Liquid honey is delicious on fresh raspberries or blackberries or grapefruit or melon and by diluting the honey with a little, hot water it is easily poured from a jug. It is also a favourite, especially with children, as a sweetener for porridge or other breakfast cereal.
Raw honey comes in a thousand and one textures and flavours. The connoisseur looks for and appreciates these differences. If you buy your honey direct from a beekeeper, talk to him and learn about the flora and conditions of soil and climate in which his flower sources grow and his bees work. The same apiary will often produce a different honey one year from that preceding or following it. One year hot weather will come when sycamore, hawthorn, and apple are yielding nectar, and the next year these plants may yield little, but a heat wave may coincide with the flowering of the white clover and blackberry.
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Today, unfortunately, comb honey is rather a rarity and it can cost up to twice the price of liquid honey. Still many people prefer to eat honey just as it comes from the honeycomb and spread the comb honey on bread in the traditional manner. In this form none of the delicate flavour or fleeting aroma is lost. In comb honey one eats all the comb. - honey, wax and all. There are various forms of comb honey e.g. section honey, (illustrated near page top)cut comb, and chunk. "Cut Comb Honey" |
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Most of today's honey is extracted so that the empty wax honeycomb can be returned to the hive to be filled again by the bees. It is more economical to produce as well as being cheaper to pack and handle. The liquid honey sold over the counter will invariably have been warmed to increase its clarity and postpone crystallisation. Honey which has not been heated will crystallise naturally and is then described as granulated, crystallised, or "set" honey. Crystallised honey may be converted to creamed or soft-set by gently heating and stirring. Creamed honey is increasing in popularity as it is easily spread on bread and sticky fingers are avoided where small children are concerned.
The process of uncapping which precedes extraction yields a commodity which is increasingly being sought after. The wax cappings themselves are liked by many people, being sold in glass honey jars and often pickled by running clear honey, previously warmed around them to prevent fermentation during storage. The end product is reminiscent of chunk honey - the chewy wax adding flavour and yielding a different sensation to the palate. It has recently come into vogue because of the belief that eating it builds up resistance to hay fever, and other similar complaints. The same has been claimed for the eating of pollen collected by the bees, or for natural unstrained local honey which contains large quantities of local pollens.
If you wish to liquefy crystallised honey, merely immerse the jar in hot water - preferably not above 115° F (48° C) chemical changes. Standard glass honey jars with screw caps are the only suitable container for liquid, granulated, or creamed honey. A point to remember when eating honey is to keep the container firmly closed between spoonfuls. The purpose is to exclude moisture in the air, while at the same time retaining as much as possible of the volatile aroma which characterises each type of honey. If possible purchase your honey direct from a local beekeeper. Too high a temperature may be applied by honey packers, that will spoil the flavour of delicate honey. When honey is being purchased in a shop, look for the special label, which is supplied only to members of the Federation of Irish Beekeepers' Associations who produce or pack Irish honey exclusively. In any case make sure that the label on the jar includes the name and address of the producer or packer.
References:-
A Book of Honey. - Dr. Eva Crane.
Honey Marketing. - Dr. Harry Riches.
Mary Workman's Honey Recipes - Clara Furness. (BIBBA Booklet).
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Upgraded... 01 to 08 March 2006,
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