The Science Behind Honey’s Eternal Shelf Life

http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2013/08/the-science-behind-honeys-eternal-shelf-life/

by danso • 13 years ago

228 86 13 years ago

blogs.smithsonianmag.com

brazzy4• 13 years ago

So basically the big secret is putting it inside an airtight container?

Wow. That wouldn't work with any other kind of food!

To downvoters: please read the article. all of it

Qworg11• 13 years ago

Actually, honey keeps as long as you don't get extra water into it. Almost nothing else does.

The container is key for storing it in terrible conditions.

throwaway1979• 13 years ago

I feel bad for wasting honey in the past. I heard a story about a friend of a friend of a friend (...) getting some kind of toxic shock from old honey. That freaked me out. My wife has yelled at me saying honey keeps .. should've listened to her :(

brazzy4• 13 years ago

Actually, honey keeps as long as you don't get extra water into it

And you will get extra water in the form of air moisture into it by not storing it in an airtight container.

The container is key for storing it in terrible conditions.

Terrible conditions such as pretty much everywhere except a desert.

stephengillie• 13 years ago

Someone didn't read the article...

brazzy4• 13 years ago

yes - you.

From TFA:

A jar of honey’s seal, it turns out, is the final factor that’s key to honey’s long shelf life, as exemplified by the storied millennia-old Egyptian specimens. While honey is certainly a super-food, it isn’t supernatural–if you leave it out, unsealed in a humid environment, it will spoil.

ramayac• 13 years ago

Not exactly, the secret it's is acidity: "It [Honey] has a pH that falls between 3 and 4.5, approximately, and that acid will kill off almost anything that wants to grow there". Which makes the life expectancy of bacteria and fungi inside of honey too low.

brazzy4• 13 years ago

Except that would not work if it were not inside an airtight container, as it would draw additional moisture from the air.

zaphar• 13 years ago

Not exactly the secret is it's acidity and it's Hydrogen Peroxide, and is't low water content.

The point of the article is that there were multiple factors involved in Honey's "magical" properties.

tqi• 13 years ago

I know you meant it sarcastically, but it's actually true - that wouldn't work with [almost] any other kind of food.

First, it seems like you are conflating airtight and vacuum sealed. For most foods, simply putting it in a sealed container won't do much good. Honey will stay good for centuries. Second, even with vacuum sealing, almost all other foods will spoil eventually, especially if not refrigerated.

jballanc• 13 years ago

Actually, no, many other kinds of food cannot be preserved simply by storage in airtight containers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botulism#Prevention

Florin_Andrei• 13 years ago

A piece of blue cheese in an airtight container would still spoil.

Or a hamburger.

Or a banana.

Or just about any other food.

a8da6b0c91d• 13 years ago

White rice would keep. I think a lot of whole grains and seeds would last ages, too. I believe in the same referenced tombs they found various seeds that could still be sprouted.

Really, a lot of completely dehydrated foods would keep in an airtight container in the desert. From your list, I wouldn't be surprised if completely dehydrated banana chips kept OK.

Qworg11• 13 years ago

Bees really are "magic" as per the article. I've been beekeeping for 3 years now and I love it. Working with such programmable insects is almost like watching automata at work. Via simple inputs, complex behavior. I recommend any one, but programmers especially, try keeping bees.

makmanalp• 13 years ago

This sounds very interesting and fun. Are there any resources you could recommend on the inputs / behavior?

Qworg11• 13 years ago

Resources? That's hard to say - I'm not sure others address keeping bees like I do.

I can offer a few examples.

Varrora Destructor is a mite that afflicts colonies - it is voracious and a pain to get rid of. One of the best non-chemical ways to treat a colony is to dust it with powdered sugar or lay petroleum jelly in dishes out. The bees, once dusted, trigger their cleaning behaviour - they begin grooming themselves to get rid of the sugar. This also dislodges the mites. The jelly works the same trigger, except requires the bees normally clean themselves, spreading the jelly all over themselves, which makes the mites unable to stick. Both of these behaviours can be enhanced by breeding "hygienic bees" - bees that groom themselves more often and quickly rid the hive of dead/dying bees and larvae.

Bees, when hungry, will eat sugar syrup to survive. You can feed your bees to get them through the winter or other dearths in nectar supply. However, bees will automatically stop taking syrup when the nectar returns - you can always tell when things are blooming enough because they'll ignore your offered syrup. You can also add essential oils to your syrup to increase uptake - lemongrass and peppermint.

People think the queen controls the hive - in truth, nobody is in control. If the workers think the queen is failing, they'll start raising a new queen, then kill the old queen (or let the new queen do it). Bees that are placed in a hive that is not their own will "switch sides" to the new hive within a few hours to days after being placed nearby - the pheromones the queen gives off links them together.

Qworg11• 13 years ago

Another that I forgot about. Scientists are making progress on hacking bees' pheromones directly: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22606797

An 84.3% increase in honey production. That said, I don't think there's any research on long term impacts.

winter_blue2• 13 years ago

Well, can you make $50-$100/hour by keeping bees? :P

tedivm• 13 years ago

I have a ton of hobbies that don't involve me making money- it's this new thing I've heard about called "work life balance". I highly recommend it.

durkie• 13 years ago

It'd be worth a calculation.

Every single beekeeping book has a chapter on selling honey, because all beekeepers are flush with it. When you consider that most of the "hours" spent making honey are spent by the bees, I could see making $50-$100/hr (but not necessarily translating that to $100-$200k/year)

moens4• 13 years ago

Change your inputs (culture), change your outputs (requirements). Ergo, you don't need that kind of money if you live more sustainably. <IdealistRant/>

So, IMO, try bee keeping[1][2] and see if it starts to change your culture :)

[1] http://www.beesource.com/ [2] http://www.bushfarms.com/bees.htm (not affiliated)

NegativeK• 13 years ago

Going to the movies must be beyond gouging if you look at it from that perspective.

npinguy• 13 years ago

What are your thoughts on the whole [Colony Collapse Disorder](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_collapse_disorder)? Have you noticed an impact to your work?

As a side question, do you think bees are treated ethically by the industrial farming complex? Does that question even apply to bees? Not coming in with preconceived judgements, I'm genuinely curious

moens4• 13 years ago

As a beekeeper and an interested party:

CCD: I believe that CCD is primarily caused by increased pesticide usage, glyphosate being the most common.

Are bees treated ethically by big farms: I believe the better question is, "Is our philosophy of farming unethical for any participant?" If the answer is yes (for even one identifiable participant), then I find that it will be unethical for every participant. Answer: optimize for sustainability, not for production alone.

Does the ethical treatment q relate to bees? Absolutely. See these movies... they are pretty one sided, but should be of interest: Queen of the Sun & More Than Honey

Qworg11• 13 years ago

CCD has impacted me - less than others as I only have a few hives. The numbers are astounding - 50-75% dead hives over winters are not uncommon. It puts an incredible amount of strain on the entire beekeeping system.

I believe that CCD has multiple causes and dimensions. Bees are very specifically evolved, and much like any overtrained system, have weaknesses. A population of bees is always under stress - varrora destructor (a terrible kind of bee mite), various bacterial, viral, and fungal infections, other bees, predatory insects/animals, and more. Bees constantly fight to overcome these threats.

Now, with the introduction and high usage of pesticides/herbicides, we've pushed them over the edge. More so than glyphosate (RoundUp), I think neonicotinoids are the most dangerous chemical. Active in low PPM, long lasting (decade+), and just dangerous enough to bees to make a CCD incident possible.

Bees' direction finding is really incredible - imagine driving hundreds of miles away to a building with only the angle of the sun and a heading to work with. Neonicotinoids make bees "drunk" for lack of a better term - they cannot find their way back home. Only the oldest bees go out to forage. That way, if they get lost or sick, they're more likely to die and they've already achieved much of what the hive needs of them. If less foragers return, you have less food for the hive, so less new bees are made. Over time, as the bee population ages, you're left with less and less foragers, less and less bees, until you open your hive one day and find a handful of dead bees, a dead queen, and starved larvae. This is a classic depiction of CCD.

As for the ethical treatment of bees - as insects, I don't believe they have an ethical or moral component. They are put under great stress every year to pollinate almonds - it is the greatest bee mixer/spring break in the world. It is also how we get all the bee diseases/pests spread quickly. I'm more concerned about the treatment and sales of honey. Supermarket honey is very suspect - overcooked, mixed, strained to remove any "impurities". Sometimes it isn't even real honey or has been relabelled to be local when it isn't.

vanderZwan• 13 years ago

programmable insects

Sounds like a fun topic for a blog of the "updates once or twice a year with results from the latest experiments"-kind. Can you share some examples of programming that you did that the average beekeeper wouldn't think of?

johnvschmitt• 13 years ago

And, they are so cute, busily working to help us. (Maxwell's demons were likely inspired by bees).

Anyway, I have a big organic wildish garden, & I notice a big variety of pollinators (as large as my thumb almost, in orange or black, to as small as grain-of-rice size, banded & hovering). Yes, commercially, we rely too much on one species, but at least in Silicon Valley, I do notice we have a diversity of pollinators healthy & thriving, just as we have a diversity of smart people from around the world doing the same. If only those engineers could make honey. (Actually, never mind about that. I do NOT want your honey, only the bees please)

Qworg11• 13 years ago

Other bee types are great. The easiest way to "keep bees" is to drill some holes in a board for mason bees to live in. They prefer being kept near muddy/mucky ground. http://www.parentmap.com/article/keeping-mason-bees-10-exper...

bitwize• 13 years ago

I'm reminded of Feynman playing with ants...

sbirchall• 13 years ago

Odd question, but have you ever tried training your bees? I've read articles on the prospect of using bees to scan for chemical compounds in such a way so as to detect drugs/explosives/illness and I would really like to hear first hand from someone who has some experience in this field. Also... quantum bees[1]!?

[1: http://discovermagazine.com/1997/nov/quantumhoneybees1263]

Qworg11• 13 years ago

I have not. Frankly, I feel like I've just scratched the surface. There's a HUGE body of knowledge in beekeeping and very little of it is passed via what you'd consider a standard method - instead, you get a mix of anecdotes, best practices and "common sense". Now there ARE beekeeping papers, but many of them are studies of colonies in the field, not prescriptive.

SeanDav• 13 years ago

I have always been fairly fascinated by bees and kept 3 hives for a while. I got stung twice and each time had more swelling and pain than before, so I decided that risking life and limb to keep bees was probably not worth the risk and donated my hives to the local bee-keepers club.

I did do a bit of research but it seems unclear if getting stung more times would eventually give me near immunity, or flare into anaphylaxis. Anyone with experience on this is welcome to chime in.

Qworg11• 13 years ago

As far as I understand, it can go either way. But that's almost purely anecdotal (like much in the bee world).

abecedarius• 13 years ago

Any of you use honey medicinally today? E.g. put it on a cut before bandaging? Swallow it to help an unhappy gut? (This is not medical advice; I'm curious.)

btilly• 13 years ago

Yes.

When I have a sore throat I make a "hot honey and lemon". Into a cup of hot water I put a ton of lemon juice, then as much honey as needed to be able to handle that, then drink it.

I don't know if it is psychosomatic or not, but those feel good on my sore throat. They taste good as well!

foobarbazqux• 13 years ago

Me too. The citric acid in the lemon breaks up the mucus and is also antimicrobial. The honey coats your throat and soothes it, which will help to prevent irritation and further inflammation, and is apparently antibacterial too.

monsterix2• 13 years ago

Yes. I am asthmatic, and one of the daily ayurvedic medical preventive [1][2] that I follow is to take a tablespoon of honey, ginger and lemon every morning.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda [2] http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-4698/5-Ayurvedic-Morning-Ritu...

Aco-• 13 years ago

thank you for posting this, I am also asthmatic and would like a better preventative measure instead of depending on having a dose left in my inhaler. I will be sure to give this a try to see if it helps any.

saljam• 13 years ago

My grandmother (a Muslim) used to put some on my cuts when I was a kid. I started experimenting more recently. (Conveniently as I picked up mountain biking—no shortage of cuts!) It certainly seems like the cuts on which I apply some honey heal faster and scar less than the ones I leave as "control".

moens4• 13 years ago

Burns: I actually had the chance to meet Klein, and his research is (IMO) amazing. See his booklet and his product [1] (I use it and it works amazingly well).

Throat: "Garlic Tea" which sounds disgusting... is fantastic for anything in your throat (allergy, cold, injury, etc):

Bring a saucepan of about 4 cups of water to boil. Peal and crush about 10 garlic cloves, toss in water, turn off heat immediately. Let cool to palatable heat. Add a couple table spoons of vinegar (natural, with the "mother" if possible) and raw honey to taste. Magic.

[1] http://www.betterthangreens.com/Amish-B-W-Ointment-Dept/536/ [edit: I pasted wrong link, oops]

armenarmen• 13 years ago

I haven't looked into this myself, BUT an MD friend I mine said that many over the counter cough syrups have been discontinued (or are no longer doctor recommended) because honey has been found to work better with fewer side effects

tingletech• 13 years ago

when I was 6 (back in the 70s) and I had the croup the Dr. wrote a perscription but told my folks "you can save some money by making your own cough syrup with 1/3 honey, 1/3 lemon juice, and 1/3 whiskey". That was good stuff.

Cherian• 13 years ago

Chef Luster wrote a beautiful answer on Quora related to this – Why doesn’t honey spoil[1]

[1] http://www.quora.com/Why-doesnt-honey-spoil

alcari• 13 years ago

It's probably a great explanation, but that site is absolutely horrible: unusable without Javascript, and it wants me to sign up to view content.

INTPenis• 13 years ago

I want to know if anyone has tried eating the honey in the egyptian tombs, and what it tasted like.

deletes• 13 years ago

I was curious too. This is all i could find in a 5 minute google search.

http://books.google.si/books?id=kN4-4FRNNfIC&pg=PA180&lpg=PA...

http://www.suburbanbeekeeper.com/2011/07/14/honey-used-as-a-...

Dogamondo• 13 years ago

My girlfriend is apparently allergic to honey. She says it's part of her 'fructose intolerance' that she developed years ago. Can this be true? or is it psychosomatic?

svachalek• 13 years ago

Never heard of it but this is interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fructose_malabsorption

quasque2• 13 years ago

It could well be true, though distinguishing the cause of her symptoms - whether it is an allergic reaction (i.e. the immune system inappropriately overreacting), problems in absorbing or metabolising fructose (so primarily related to intestines or liver), or something else - would be difficult without the involvement of a medical professional.

nutmeg• 13 years ago

I've told my family that I want to be mummified in honey when I die, similar to mellified man: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mellified_man

WiseWeasel• 13 years ago

Mmmmmh, mellified man... drooool

samstave• 13 years ago

Nutmeg infused honey... sounds delicious.

EDIT: That article was fascinating. I had never heard of that practice. Now I am feeling weird for daydreaming about doing this when I am ~90...

bobajett• 13 years ago

Your Lord revealed to the bees: "Build dwellings in the mountains and the trees, and also in the structures which men build. Then eat from every kind of fruit and travel the paths of your Lord, which have been made easy for you to follow." From their bellies issues a drink of varying hues, containing healing for mankind. Indeed in this is a sign for people who think.

from the Koran chapter 16 entitled "The Bee".

contingencies2• 13 years ago

Wow, at one level that's quite beautiful as it's sort of saying "the sum of all living things equals health for humanity". I generally don't dig the humans vs. everybeing else distinction in monotheistic philosophies, though.

noonespecial• 13 years ago

Be careful of honey cut with corn syrup. It's sadly more common than it should be. This does not have a super long shelf life. To me it looks like it separates out and then eventually spoils.

Qworg11• 13 years ago

As is relabelling of honey from countries where the US has banned honey imports (like China), due to health and dumping concerns.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/03/07/173737521/nation...

gleenn• 13 years ago

God I love honey.

dhughes• 13 years ago

But through the process of making honey, the bees play a large part in removing much of this moisture by flapping their wings to literally dry out the nectar.

And if you keep going you get what a man in my province made, dry honey: http://www.honibe.com/

simonebrunozzi• 13 years ago

I am 36 years old now; when I was 8, upon returning from school, I told my father: "Dad, the teacher has taught us about bees. I want bees.". He knew how stubborn I was, and in fact 2 months later we had our first beehive.

I've been helping him beekeeping for the next 15 years or so, and have learned A LOT about bees. We harvested several types of honey. "millefiori" (thousand flowers, or "generic" honey), "castagno" (chestnut), "eucalipto" (eucalyptus), and of course "pappa reale" (royal jelly).

In 1999, during my military service, I came back to the barracks from home, bringing chestnut honey, my all time favorite, and "pecorino" cheese. Try to eat them together, and you will understand what flavor really is. Amazing.

Bees are fascinating creatures (I know, I should have said insects). Taking care of them, for months, until the "smielatura" (honey harvest) comes, is an incredible experience for a young kid.

The main thing I've learned from this is respect for nature, for others. (not to claim that I'm a saint of anything, but I'm pretty sure that the "nice" part of me has a lot to do with beekeeping.). It's also an amazing bonding experience for a father and his son.

If you have any chance, I'd suggest you buy a couple of beehives, and start spending time with them. It's relaxing, interesting, challenging sometimes. 100% worth it.

PhantomGremlin• 13 years ago

Is today's honey safe to eat?

Comments have mentioned "pesticides" and "herbicides". Wouldn't those become concentrated in honey? I assume that bigger objects such as "mites" can be filtered out of the final product, but the chemicals would remain.

Also someone posted a link to Chinese honey being "laundered". It's apparently being dumped at artificially low prices. While that's bad for business, it's not necessarily bad for my health. But is there something in the Chinese honey that's potentially harmful to us? The linked article didn't say.

The Science Behind Honey’s Eternal Shelf Life

Related Stories